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BERMUDA. 



ju* The germ of this book was an article called " Ber- 
mudian Days '* that appeared in the Atlantic Monthly 
for December, i88^. It is incorporated with these 
pages hy permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin 
and Company. 



BERMUDA 



^N IDYL OF THE SUMMER ISLANDS 



JULIA C. R. DORR 



DEC 3 1884 /| 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1884 



•iivl 



Copyright, 1SS4, 
By CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. 



a-'^u^ 



The Riverside Press., Cambridge : 
Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co. 



To 

H. R. D., 

My comrade and compagnon de voyage, this story of our 

Bermudian days is most affectionately dedicated. 

J. C. R. D. 

"The Maples," Rutland, Vt., 
September 5, 1B84. 



" In the afternoon they came unto a land 
In which it seemed always afternoon. 

Eating the Lotus day by day, 

To watch the crisping ripples on the beach, 

And tender curving lines of creamy spray. 

All day the wind breathes low with mellower tone : 
Through every hollow cave and alley lone 
Round and round the spicy downs the yellow Lo- 
tus dust is blown." 



BERMUDA, 



I. 



Three feet of snow, the thermometer at 
zero, bitter March winds, and remembrances 
of the slow coming of the New England spring. 
To sit in the sun and be idle seemed best of 
all things. But where should we go ? 

" Now is your time to go to Europe," said 
our friends, one and all. " The very accepted 
time. Nothing could be better. You are 
neither of you good for anything here " (which 
was very complimentary) ; " the voyage will 
set you up, and you will come home new crea- 
tures. Telegraph for state-rooms. at once." 

Europe ! The very thought was overpower- 
ing. What, then, would the fact be ? 

Two of us lay awake all night to think of it. 
We climbed the Alps, veiled our faces before 
the awful splendor of Mont Blanc, trembled on 
the verge of dizzy heights, shrank back from 
fathomless abysses, picked our way across the 
Mer de Glace, and cowered beneath the weight 



2 BERMUDA. 

of the whole incumbent mass of mountains as 
we went through the tunnel. We wearily trav- 
ersed miles and miles of picture galleries, stood 
in damp cathedrals, lifted awestruck faces to 
more than the Seven Wonders of the World, 
wandered over battle-fields gay now with yellow 
wheat and scarlet poppies, visited the shrines 
of saints and martyrs, museums rich with the 
storied spoil of ages, and libraries in whose dim 
alcoves the wisdom and learning of the whole 
earth was garnered. 

In the morning we compared notes, — we 
two who were ordered off together. 

" No, thank you," we said to our friends j 
" no Europe for us this time. There 's too 
much of it." 

" But you need not try to do or to see every- 
thing," they answered. " Just go over and set- 
tle down somewhere, and take it easy." 

" And be forever haunted by the ghosts of 
lost opportunities," we answered ; " tantalized 
by the daily aria nightly thought of what we 
are missing. We have no strength to waste 
in vain regrets. We must go somewhere where 
we can do all there is to do, and all we want 
to do ; where there is enough to interest us, 
enough to enjoy, and yet where we can be just 
as lazy as we please without any pricks of 
conscience. Where, oh where, shall we find 
this Eden ? " 



BERMUDA. 3 

We went to Bermuda. The road to Paradise 
is rough and thorny. Beautiful Bermuda sits 
upon her coral reefs, guarded by waters that 
are not to be lightly ventured. Crossing the 
Gulf Stream diagonally is not conducive to 
ease of mind or body. Given the passage of 
the English Channel intensified and stretched 
out over four days instead of four hours, and 
you have the voyage from New York to Ber- 
muda. The less said about it the better. 

But beyond Purgatory lies Paradise. We 
left New York on a Thursday in March. On 
Sunday morning (Easter Sunday of 1883), 
those of us who were on deck saw a wonderful 
transformation scene, as the Oronoco passed 
from the dark and turbulent billows of the 
Atlantic into the clear blue waters of the land- 
locked harbor of Bermuda. There was no 
gradual blending of color. On one side of 
a sharply defined line was the dull black of 
molten lead ; on the other the bright azure 
of the June heavens. One by one the white 
and haggard passengers crept on deck. How 
they mocked at the delusion of pleasure travel 
at sea ! How they protested that the dry land 
would be good enough for them after this ! 
Yet in three days' time these same passengers 
were chartering whale-boats, sail-boats, yachts, 
steam-tugs, anything that would take them far 



4 BERMUDA. 

out among the reefs, where the ocean swell was 
heaviest. So blessedly evanescent is the mem- 
ory of sea-sickness ! 

The Bermudas are a cluster of small islands 
lying in latitude 32° 20' N. and longitude 64° 
41' W. They are as far south as Charleston ; 
as far east as Nova Scotia. There is said to be 
no habitable land so isolated on the face of the 
round globe, unless it may possibly be St. He- 
lena. Even this possibility is denied by many 
who claim for Bermuda the supremacy by a few 
feet or inches. Let some exact statistician get 
out his little tape measure and decide the mo- 
mentous question. 

The islands lie northeastward to southwest- 
ward, in the form of a fish-hook, or a shepherd's 
crook, twenty-five miles from end to end, and 
fifteen miles in a straight line. It is claimed 
that there are three hundred and sixty-five of 
them, one for each day in the 3^ear. But in 
this count, if count it is, are included many so 
minute that a single tree would shade their 
whole circumference. The five largest are St. 
David's, St. George's, the Main Island, or the 
Continent, as it is occasionally called, Somer- 
set, and Ireland's Island. St. George's lies at 
the upper end of the crook ; Ireland's at the ex- 
treme point. The reputed area of the whole 
group is only about nineteen square miles ! 



BERMUDA. 5 

The islands lie so near each other, the main 
ones being connected by bridges that span the 
narrow fiords, that as you approach them you 
exclaim, "Where are the multitudinous islands ? 
This is surely continuous land." Nature seems 
to have taken great care of this precious bit of 
her handiwork. So perfectly is it guarded by 
its outlying coral reefs that there is but a single 
channel by which large vessels can enter the 
harbor. Fifteen miles from shore, at the ex- 
treme northern limit of the reefs, rises a pic- 
turesque group called the North Rocks, — the 
highest pinnacles of a submerged Bermuda, — 
which may itself have been but a mountain 
peak of the fabled continent Atlantis. But 
though, according to the chronicle, these rocks 
may be seen by the approaching traveler, they 
seldom are, and the first land sighted by the 
New York steamer is the northeast coast of 
St. George's Island. By night, the fixed white 
light on Si. David's Head alone gives evidence 
that land is near. The tortuous, well-buoyed 
channel can be entered only by daylight. 

Out comes the Negro pilot, and scrambles 
up on deck. We round St. George's, and fol- 
low the northern coast line at a respectful 
distance till we reach Point Ireland and her 
majesty's dockyard, and come to anchor in 
Grassy Bay. It is barely noon, but we find to 



6 BERMUDA. 

our chagrin that the tide is out, and we must 
lie here till night and wait for it. Presently 
appears the little steam-tug, the Moondyne (or 
Mo-on-dy-ne, — meaning the messenger, — if 
you choose to appear wiser than other folks), 
which sooner or later becomes so pleasantly 
known to all Bermudian visitors, and demands 
the mail. It is but a five-mile run into Hamil- 
ton harbor, and most of the passengers avail 
themselves of this opportunity to leave the 
steamer; but the Moondyne, crowded from 
stem to stern, looks half under water, and the 
descent by the swaying stairs is not enticing to 
heads and feet that are still unsteady. 

We will take the chances, though hotels be 
full, and the rule, we are told, "First come, first 
served." 

With our American ideas of the expediency 
of utilizing the telegraph wires on every possi- 
ble occasion, adequate or inadequate, it seemed 
absurd, a going back into the dark ages, to be 
told in New York that we could not telegraph 
for rooms. But there is no cable to Bermuda; 
and the steamer sails only on alternate Thurs- 
days, excepting in April, May, and June. In 
those three months there is a weekly service. 
So unless you can make your plans some weeks 
ahead of your actual journey, you must trust to 
luck in the matter of quarters. 



BERMUDA. 7 

But would we have dinner ? We had forgot- 
ten there was such a word. Was it true, then, 
that human beings were dependent upon food, 
or at least upon anything beyond a sip of or- 
ange-juice and a crumb of biscuit ? And could 
we really go downstairs, and sit at a table like 
Christians ? 

We went, — a dozen or two of us who had 
been raised from the dead that morning ; and 
by the slow persuasion of iced claret and sea- 
biscuit were gradually brought round to the 
conviction that chicken broth was a good thing, 
and roast beef was not to be despised. 

It is dark when we reach the dock at Ham- 
ilton, — a dark, rainy, moonless night. How 
long it takes to lay the planks (after a most 
primitive fashion), and make ready for our dis- 
embarkation ! Nemo hurries on shore to look 
for quarters. No rooms at the hotels for love 
or money, but pleasant lodgings " out," with 
board at the Hamilton. A carriage waits, and 
a not long drive through the soft, damp, odor- 
ous darkness brings us to our temporary home. 

By a flight of winding stairs outside the 
house, we reach a covered balcony, over which 
a tropical vine wanders at will. Double glass 
doors lead into a large, square chamber, with 
walls of snow and floor of cedar, out of which 
open two good-sized bedrooms. The furniture 



8 BERMUDA. 

is quaint and old-fashioned, and there are brass 
bedsteads with lace draperies wonderful to be- 
hold. On a little odd table between the two 
windows opposite the door is a great vase, 
overflowing with roses, lilies white and red, the 
scarlet-flowering heath, and fragrant branches 
of rose-geranium. 

" Another proof that ' patient waiting is no 
loss,' " I said. 

We learned afterwards that many of our less 
fortunate shipmates went wandering along the 
coast for miles that day, in a long search for 
what we found so easily. There is apt to be a 
rush when the steamer comes in on Sunday, 
and some inconvenience until she goes out 
on Thursday, — taking with her a crowd who 
leave vacant rooms behind them. Doubtless 
this will all be remedied after a little, as the 
course of travel sets more strongly and steadily 
towards Bermuda. That supply follows de- 
mand is a sure rule of political economy. 

We crept into blessed beds that would not 
roll, with a queer but delightful sense of isola- 
tion akin to that one feels at night on the high- 
est peak of some lonely mountain. Once on 
the top of Killington, when the great peak 
seemed to rock and sway as the strong winds 
roared around the rocky summit, and the 
gnarled and weather-beaten fir-trees groaned 



BERMUDA. 9 

and moaned all night longi I had something of 
the same sensation, — as /if I were alone upon 
some point in space froi;n which I should fall 
if I stirred. I had not /seen Hamilton ; had 
had no glimpse of the town, for even the dock 
was unlighted. What wqis Bermuda but a speck, 
a dot upon the map ! Surely the wind that was 
stirring the cedars would blow us off this atom 
in the illimitable waste of waters. But we slept, 
nevertheless. 



II. 

Two or three low, sweet bugle notes, that I 
afterwards discovered to be the morning call 
of the baker's boy, and a burst of jubilant bird- 
song awakened me. It took but a moment to 
throw open the window. What a contrast to 
icy mountains and valleys of drifted snow! 
Before me were large pride-of-India trees, laden 
with their long, pendulous racemes of pale lav- 
ender, each separate blossom having a drop 
of maroon at its heart. Clumps of oleanders, 
just blushing into bloom, rose to the right and 
the left. Beneath me were glowing beds of 
geraniums, callas, roses, Easter lilies, and the 
many-hued coleus. Scarlet blossoms burned 
against the dark green of the pomegranate 
leaves. Here rose the tall shaft of a stately 
palm j there the spreading fans of the pal- 
metto or the slender spires of the swaying 
bamboo. As far as the eye could reach was 
one stretch of unbroken bloom and verdure. 
But stop a minute ! Surely there are patches 
of snow set in all this greenery ; snow-covered 
roofs glittering in the morning sun, and daz- 



BERMUDA. 1 1 

zling the eye with their brilliancy. It took 
more than a glance to discover that the snow 
was but the white coral rock, of which more 
anon. 

It seemed a cruel waste of time to go to 
breakfast, but there was no help for it. As we 
passed from beneath our pride-of-Indias to the 
winding Serpentine, a very pretty girl, neatly, 
even daintily, dressed, and carrying a little 
basket lined with scarlet, tripped up to us, and 
with a graceful apology for detaining us, in 
words as well chosen as those of any lady, 
begged the privilege of doing our washing ! 
The pretty face was dark, — as dark as that of 
a bronze Venus. We said yes, quite shame- 
facedly, no doubt, and went our way, wonder- 
ing what manner of land this might be, where 
melodious bugle notes announce the advent of 
the baker, and your washerwoman has the 
speech and carriage of a duchess. 

Truth compels me to say, just here, that the 
brown beauty did not prove to be an expert 
laundress, more 's the pity. But what ought 
one to expect of a butterfly ? It is not a honey- 
bee ! If her collars and cuffs were not of the 
orthodox stiffness, and if " doing them up " 
after her fashion was hardly worth seventy- 
five cents a dozen, the glimpses she gave us 
of her pretty, smiling face, and her soft voice 



12 BERMUDA. 

and graceful manners as she flitted in and out, 
were worth a great deal more than that. So 
we had the best of the bargain, after all. After 
one week, however, we entrusted our finery to 
the tender mercies of an older woman, who, 
if she had no beauty to boast of, gave us 
good work and entire satisfaction. 

But this is a digression. I foresee, already, 
that digression will be the order of the day in 
telling this story of our Bermudian days, — 
those days that were so purposeless, in one 
sense, and yet so full of the idle content that 
does not plan, but simply enjoys. We turned 
to the right or the left, according to the whim 
of the moment, and all roads led to Rome. 

Out to the winding Serpentine, then past the 
old quarry, up a slight ascent, then a short cut 
through a rough, steep lane, where two laugh- 
ing little girls, one white and one black, were 
always playing, a turn to the right, and we 
were at the long flight of easy steps, with many 
levels betv^^een, that led to the Hotel Hamil- 
ton. 

This is a large, commodious building with 
many pillars and broad verandas, shining in 
the sun like a palace of white marble. It 
stands upon a hill, in the midst of pretty and 
well-kept grounds, overlooking on every side, 
and the whole year round, a summer landscape, 



BERMUDA. 13 

the quaint white-roofed town, and the blue wa- 
ters of the shining bay. A winding drive, with 
flights of steps, regular and otherwise, for pe- 
destrians, leads down the somewhat steep de- 
scent to the street below. To the right, far 
off to the southwest, the light-house towers 
aloft, and by night sends forth the flash of its 
revolving light once a minute. 

But we cannot stand here, held by the glow, 
the sparkle, the radiant sunshine, and the 
strange charm of the semi-tropical foliage. Let 
us go in to breakfast. 

The long dining-room was filled with groups 
of pleasant people, having, on the whole, rather 
more than the usual esprit de corps. Of course 
there were the " all sorts," that in Bermuda, as 
elsewhere, it " takes to make a world," and not 
all were equally agreeable. But were we not 
all adventurous voyagers, exploring this terra 
incognita 1 And did not each new steamer- 
load of passengers present unknown possibili- 
ties ? The old inhabitants, many of whom had 
been there all winter, were ready to extend 
friendly words of greeting and courteous hos- 
pitalities to the new comers, and to put them 
in the way of enjoying whatever was most en- 
joyable. 

So it happened that a handful of Joquottes 
were laid beside my plate that morning, with 



14 BERMUDA. 

the remark that they were nearly out of season, 
and this might be my only opportunity to taste 
them. The loquotte is somewhat like a yellow 
plum j bitter and astringent if plucked too soon, 
but juicy and most delicious when fully ripe. 

And so it happened, too, that we were told 
that very Easter Monday was to be a great day 
for the boys of Pembroke grammar school. 
There were to be athletic sports at Tucker's 
Field, and the victors were to receive their 
prizes from the fair hands of no less a person- 
age than the Princess Louise. Such an oppor- 
tunity to see Bermuda in gala-dress was not to 
be slighted, even if every bone in one's body 
did ache, and every nerve and muscle quiver; 
to say nothing of seeing the princess. Of 
course, in theory, one is quite above any such 
weakness. But, as a matter of fact, was there 
ever an American woman who did not want to 
take a peep at royalty, or its scions, if she had 
a fair chance ? 

So to the Field we went, starting early, and 
taking a long drive to the Flatts on Harrington 
Sound on the way, in order to call at the quaint 
and beautiful home of the American consul, 
Mr. Allen, who has been here for many years. 
The house is most picturesquely situated just 
where the waters of the sound pour into the 
sea through a narrow inlet, spanned by a pretty 



BERMUDA. 15 

bridge. Its brick-paved court, with arched en- 
trance, from which winding stairs on the out- 
side of the house lead to the drawing-rooms 
above, and its overhanging, projecting balco- 
nies, give it a singularly foreign aspect that is 
very charming. 

Here we saw our first cocoa-nut palm, its 
feathery branches making a soft, rustling music 
as the wind swept through them. And here, too, 
in the basin of a fountain fed directly from the 
sea, were dozens of beautiful angel fish, so ex- 
quisite in their blue and gold, and with some- 
thing so human in their mild, innocent faces, 
that they seemed half uncanny. Here, also, 
were the little striped "sergeant majors," or pi- 
lot-fish. These curious wee creatures seem to 
be the forerunners, or "pilots," of the mighty 
sharks, and, it is said, always precede them. 
Without vouching for the truth of this, I may 
say that whenever we saw sharks in these wa- 
ters, as we often did, the pilot-fish invariably 
preceded them. 

Tucker's Field was a gay sight. All Ber- 
muda was there, — a throng of well-dressed, 
handsome grown folks and pretty children. 
Full one half were colored people, and it is not 
too much to say that some of the finest looking 
and finest mannered of the crowd were among 
them. One of the most noticeably elegant men 



1 6 BERMUDA. 

on the grounds was a tall and stately black, 
with a beautiful child in his arms and his pretty 
wife by his side. There were soldiers in gay 
coats, streamers and banners flying in the soft 
yet not heated air, a close greensward under 
our feet, a wall of cedars encircling us, the blue 
sky over our heads and glimpses of the blue 
sea in the distance. Against a background of 
cedar arose a white pavilion, over which floated 
the Bermudian flag ; and in front of it was a 
raised platform, covered with scarlet cloth, sa- 
cred to the princess and her suite. Her royal 
highness had not arrived, but the boys were 
already at their work, running hurdle races, 
vaulting and leaping. 

Presently there was a little commotion, a stir 
of expectancy. Down sank the British ensign, 
and the princess's own standard, gorgeous in 
scarlet and gold, rose in its stead, as an open 
carriage, with outriders, drove on to the grounds. 
The princess, in a pretty and simple costume 
of purple silk, with a bonnet to match, — a little 
puffed affair, guiltless of flowers or feathers, — 
bowed to the right and to the left, her strong, 
sweet, womanly face lighting up as she re- 
ceived the greetings of the people. In Ber- 
muda the Princess Louise v/on all hearts by 
her gracious sweetness, her affability, and the 
cordial kindliness and simplicity with which 
she met all advances. 



BERMUDA. 17 

But to go back to the boys. They raced ; 
they jumped ; they ran " three-legged races ; " 
they rode obstinate though gayly caparisoned 
donkeys, amid cheers and laughter ; they vault- 
ed, the pole being raised higher and higher, 
until the princess put a stop to it, lest the 
brave lads should break their necks : and then, 
one by one, the blushing and victorious knights 
received their shining silver cups from the 
hands of her royal highness. 

It has been said that courtesy is the rule in 
Bermuda. Here is a proof of it. At one time 
during these performances, the crowd surged 
in front of me, so that I could see only a 
wall of backs and shoulders. A kindly-faced 
and sweet-voiced negro woman, perceiving this, 
touched my shoulder, saying, — 

" Take my place, lady. You cannot see." 

" But," I answered, " if I do, you will see 
nothing." 

" Oh, that does not matter," she said, with a 
bright smile. " The lady is a stranger, but I 
have seen the princess a good many times." 

The pretty pageant was over, and our first 
day in Bermuda as well. 

Our first day. But how can I tell of that 
evening, when we lay in our steamer chairs, on 
our vine-wreathed balcony, with the soft moon- 
light irradiating the white roads and the waving 



1 8 BERMUDA. 

palms, casting long shadows everywhere, and 
touching all things with mystical loveliness ? 

It was like a dream when we thought of the 
snow-clad hills we had left six days before, and 
under the shadow of which our best beloveds 
were no doubt at that very moment heaping 
the coal on glowing fires, and saying, "How 
cold it is ! " 

But next morning our good landlady said, 
with a deprecating, apologetic smile, " I don't 
think you should have sat on the balcony last 
night. You Americans take risks we Bermudi- 
ans never think of taking. We think the night 
air dangerous in winter." 

*' Winter ? " Was this winter ? But we did 
not take cold ; and we ran the same fearful 
risk more than once afterwards, sitting in the 
moonlight and talking — Nemo and I — of 
things past, present, and to come. 



III. 

It had been showery for several days ; which 
means that it had not seemed wise to under- 
take any long expeditions, though there was 
really no difficulty in getting about, even on 
foot. If it rained one minute, the sun shone 
the next ; and so porous is the limestone of the 
roads that in five minutes after a brisk shower 
one had no need of overshoes. But no one 
dreamed of stirring without waterproof and 
umbrella. 

" I have been out four hours this morning," 
said Flutterbudget, " and was caught in eight 
showers. But the sun shone most of the time, 
after all, and it was delightful. What 's the 
use of staying in ? One never minds the rain 
here." 

Which was only a fair statement. But we 
were a little lazy after the rough voyage, and 
were not sorry for a good excuse to devote our- 
selves mainly to getting rested, and to writing 
letters to send back by the Oronoco. 

When we caught the last glimpse of her red 
smoke-stack we turned from the doek, conscious 



20 BERMUDA. 

of a new sensation. It was as if we were on 
another planet. Until she should come sailing 
and steaming back again, we were as absolutely 
cut off from any communication with home as 
if we were in the moon. More so ; for we 
could at least see that, — the same full, round 
moon that was rising slowly over Killington. 

Perhaps in this isolation, this fact of being 
absolutely cut off from one's old life, lies one 
of the chief causes of the recuperative power, 
the restfulness, of a few weeks in Bermuda. 
For you can't get even a cable dispatch. No 
matter what happens, — if the bank breaks, or 
the cashier absconds, if the house burns down, 
or the children have the measles, or Tom gets 
married, or your favorite candidate is defeated, 
or you yourself are nominated for the presi- 
dency, you can't know it for two weeks. Of 
course there are thoughts of sadder contingen- 
cies, as there always must be in life. 

But it is astonishing how soon one learns to 
accept the inevitable, and as a not unmitigated 
evil. In some cases it seemed even possible 
to rejoice at it. 

" I positively draw a breath of relief every 
time the steamer sails," said one whose life 
had been spent in the eager stress and strain 
of business, and whose nerves had suffered 
therefrom. " It is such a comfort to know that 



BERMUDA. 21 

I cannot get a letter, or a New York paper, 
for a fortnight." 

By degrees the happy-go-lucky spirit of the 
islands, which is content to trust to luck and 
let the world wag as it will, took possession 
of the wisest of us. And yet I was fain to 
observe that, notwithstanding all protestations, 
the five wise virgins and the five foolish ones 
were equally eager for the mail when once the 
steamer was signaled ! 

But one day we found ourselves in what 
Emery Ann would have called " a regular 
quandary." Surely it is not necessary in this 
presence to tell who she was, or is^ — for if she 
be not one of the few immortals she is pretty 
sure to outlive this generation. I have no 
doubt that when she and Miss Patience Strong 
took their outing together, sharing both " sights 
and insights," they found themselves more 
than once in precisely our predicament. 

If we were to stay in Bermuda two months 
we must have a home, a place where we could 
gather our belongings about us, make ourselves 
comfortable, and feel that we were living. I 
was like a bird without a nest unless so dom- 
iciled ; and as for Nemo, he had had only 
an apology for a home since he first went to 
college, and to have one would be a pleasant 
change. 



22 BERMUDA. 

But our quarters down the Serpentine had 
been assigned us only temporarily, with the 
understanding that we were to have rooms at 
the hotel, as soon as there were vacancies. 
Now the Oronoco was on her rolling way back 
to New York, with her hold full of onions and 
her staterooms and cabins more than full of 
passengers ; and Hotel Hamilton was natu- 
rally desirous to gather her scattered children 
under her own wing. Yet her vacant rooms 
happened to be not especially desirable, and 
for two bedrooms, without a parlor, we would 
have to pay as much as for our pleasant suite, 
the balcony and a little store-room included. 

Still there were objections to staying where 
we were. The necessity of putting one's self 
into street costume at an early hour was in 
itself a trial to one accustomed to the ease 
of morning negligee and breakfast caps ; and 
the matutinal repast seemed hardly worth the 
trouble of going after it. 

" How far is it to the hotel, any way ? " I 
asked of Nemo, as we were considering ways 
and means, with a vague hope that I misap- 
prehended the distance ; or that, perhaps, if he 
said it was but a little way I could stand it. 

But he answered, " Well, I should say it was 
just about as far as to the butternut-tree." 

Now to the butternut - tree was a standard 



BERMUDA. 23 

of measurement familiar to all our clan, and 
"just about" as definite as a piece of chalk. 
I had always noticed that the distance de- 
pended wholly upon one's state of mind. 
" Only down to the butternut-tree " was but a 
step, a mere bagatelle, to a band of rosy, laugh- 
ing children, who flew over the ground like so 
many young deer in the crisp October morn- 
ings, eager to see how many nuts had fallen 
during the night, and to crack them, all un- 
dried as they were, on a certain broad white 
stone beneath it. Little cared the troop of 
roguish elves for lips and fingers butternut- 
brown. But there were circumstances, I had 
found, under which " 'way down to the butter- 
nut-tree " lengthened inconceivably. 

It seemed to me that the hotel was at least 
three times as far as to the butternut-tree ; and, 
moreover, it was uphill. But what had I come 
to Bermuda for but to be out-of-doors, to stray 
about in the soft sunshine, and to triumphantly 
disprove the family tradition that I had never 
learned to walk .'* Here was my chance, — if, 
only, one could get rid of the troublesome 
breakfast question. 

To the rescue rushed a kind fairy, who, for 
a reasonable compensation, would serve me 
a simple breakfast of bananas, eggs, toast, and 
tea in my room. So by degrees it settled it- 



24 BERMUDA. 

self that we were to remain where fate had cast 
us that first rainy night, in " lodgings out," 
with board at the Hamilton. 

Let me say just here, in case any one who 
chances to read these pages should have any 
thought of following our example, that who- 
ever takes any lodging I happened to see will 
have some things to put up with. Bermuda is 
not progressive in the way of modern improve- 
ments. Very few of the private housekeepers 
who are willing to rent their rooms to tourists 
have any idea of many things that we of the 
North regard not only as conveniences, but as 
necessities. You will find no bath-rooms with 
hot and cold water, and you will have to do 
without other things that at home you think 
quite indispensable to a well-ordered establish- 
ment. Without doubt, most Americans would 
find themselves more comfortable at some one 
of the hotels, — the Hamilton being by no 
means the only one. 

But we wanted plenty of room, quiet, and 
rest. Therefore we made the choice we did, 
and we never regretted it. To be sure, the 
chickens disturbed us sometimes of a morn- 
ing, the cocks sounded their shrill alarum too 
early, and the birds in the swaying boughs of 
the pride-of-India trees before my window were 
occasionally too jubilant. But on the whole 



BERMUDA. 25 

order reigned in Warsaw, and we were well 
content. 

A comfortable rug for the floor of our sit- 
ting-room, and the loveliest old inlaid table, 
with two leaves, two cedar - scented drawers, 
claw feet, and brass toes, giving us plenty of 
room for our books and writing materials, and 
sundry small, home-like trifles, were gradually 
added to our furnishings. Gradually, — for 
everything is done gradually in Bermuda. A 
transformation that would be brought about in 
half a day by a brisk Yankee housekeeper will 
require a fortnight here. Why should one 
hurry when days are long and calm and sweet? 
Surely there is time enough. The world is not 
coming to an end, and what is not done to-day 
can it not be done to-morrow, or the day after ? 

It was odd to be reminded, in that faraway 
island of the sea, of Sam. Lawson and Miss 
Lois's clock. " Some things can be druv, Miss 
Lois, and then agin some things can't, and 
clocks is that kind. They 's jest got to be 
humored." But we were so reminded more 
than once, before our rooms were settled. The 
one thing that puzzled me in Bermuda, from 
first to last, was to know who did the work, 
and when it was done. 

Yet while nobody is in a hurry, and nobody 
seems to have anything to do, every one is well 
clad, and looks happy and contented. 



IV. 



I WANTED a waste-basket, a sponge, and di- 
vers other things. 

" Go to the Tov/er," said somebody. " They 
keep everything there, from a pin to a piano." 

It was a clear day at last; not a cloud in the 
whole wide sky, and the air was like wine. 
Just to breathe it and to feel one's self alive 
was enough. The sun was hot, or it seemed so 
to those of us who were fresh from Greenland's 
icy mountains ; but the breeze from off the sea 
blew in deliciously, and was as sweet as if it 
came straight from the shores of Araby the 
Blest. 

Forth we fared — we meaning the two of us, 
Nemo and I — in search of the Tower. It 
proved to be a substantial building on a con- 
spicuous corner, surmounted by a round tower, 
from which floated the British ensign. Inside, 
it is a regular country store, barring perhaps 
the codfish and molasses. Moreover, it is a 
book-store, and the headquarters of a circulat- 
ing library. The proprietor, a naive, courteous, 
simple-hearted gentleman, — a native Bermu- 



BERMUDA. 27 

dian, — showed us everything we did and did 
not want, entertained us with pretty stories 
about the princess, testifying loyally to the 
grace and benignity of her royal highness, and 
made not the slightest objection to relieving us 
of our spare cash, provided it was in good Eng- 
lish shillings and sovereigns. 

Having made our purchases, we strolled on 
down the hill to Front Street, where are nearly 
all the shops and warehouses, the bank, — for 
there is but one, — and most of the offices and 
business of the town. 

It is a broad, low street, if one may use such 
an expression, nearly a mile in length, and bor- 
dered by a row of pride-of-India trees. These, 
however, are not in full leaf just now, but are 
laden with long pendulous blooms, not very 
unlike our lilac in general appearance, though 
the racemes are very much less compact, and 
the flower stems longer. The tree is deciduous, 
and we do not see it in its glory. In midsum- 
mer it casts a dense shade, and the Bermudi- 
ans have a saying that one need never be hot 
who owns a pride-of-India tree ; that it gathers 
and holds the coolness, as the cedar-tree holds 
the heat. 

The street is not paved, and the sidewalks 
do not make a strong impression upon the way- 
farer. Pedestrians walk where they will, here. 



28 BERMUDA. 

there, or yonder. On one side are the wharves, 
the docks, the three great iron sheds with 
their rounded roofs, and below and beyond the 
shining harbor, ahve with sea-craft of all de- 
scriptions. White-winged yachts fly hither and 
thither, fishermen are making ready their swift, 
strong sail-boats, ferrymen are rowing single 
passengers, — or a dozen, as the case may be 
— across to the lovely Paget shore, the Moon- 
dyne is getting up steam for a trip through 
the great sound, and with long steady strokes 
the blue-jacketed tars of the admiral's ship, the 
Northampton, send its cutter swiftly over the 
blue waters. 

On the other side of the street are the shops, 
queer, low, dark, and looking for the most part 
singularly alike. All have the open piazza in 
front, two or three yards wide, supported as to 
its roof, or ceiling, by slender columns. From 
these piazzas flights of stairs lead to the dwell- 
ing-houses above the shops, which are furnished 
with jalousies, or strong Venetian blinds. 

" Onions are up," to-day, — which cabalistic 
sentence means they are bringing a good price j 
and from Heyl's Corner, near which is the 
American consulate, the scene is a gay and a 
busy one, and the air is filled with the odor of 
Bermuda violets. A rose by any other name 
may smell as sweet, but our olfactory nerves 



BERMUDA. 29 

fail to perceive that calling an onion a violet 
makes its pungent odor any more delectable. 
Donkeys, horses, negroes of every age, size, 
and shade, carts, crates, sacks, barrels, and 
boxes are mingled in seemingly inextricable 
confusion, and laughter and hilarity abound. 
There goes a scarlet-coated soldier, and past 
him strides a tall figure in the green uniform of 
the Royal Irish Rifles. Yonder a dozen marines 
are disembarking. Here comes a turbaned ne- 
gress, balancing a basket of lemons on her 
head. She lowers it to her arm, seemingly 
without an effort, as we ask her a question, 
smiling and showing teeth as white as milk and 
even as rows of corn. 

The Bermuda lemon looks like a large, 
coarse-skinned orange, being round, and of a 
deep reddish-yellow in color. It seems, indeed, 
to be a cross between the orange and lemon. 
The pulp-cells are easily separated, and while 
a very sour fruit, which makes a delicious sher- 
bet, it has not the extreme acidity of the lemon 
of commerce. The trees grow wild and in pro- 
fusion, but the fruit is too short-lived for expor- 
tation. We bought four of the great yellow 
globes for threepence. 

On -our way home we passed the scene of 
Mark Twain's great disappointment, and paused 
for a moment to try to realize his emotions. 



30 BERMUDA. 

There stood the great India-rubber tree, lifting 
its enormous bole three or four feet from the 
ground, and at that point dividing into five limbs, 
each as large as an ordinary tree. It is in pri- 
vate grounds, but as we stood looking meekly 
over the iron fence we were seen, and courte- 
ously invited to walk in for a nearer view. The 
gardener made a slight incision in the bark to 
show us the flow of the milk-like sap, and then 
piloted us through the luxuriant garden and 
lawns, where many of our carefully tended hot- 
house plants grow to great size, and orange, 
pepper, and sago palm-trees flourish. We were 
hardly able to recognize our "pigeon berry," 
grown to a stately tree, with a round head, and 
graceful, drooping branches covered to their 
very tips with a profusion of yellow berries. 

As we passed down one of the avenues the 
gardener touched a poor little stunted, deformed 
specimen with his stick. 

" A countryman of yours," he said senten- 
tiously. " It has given me more trouble than 
everything else in the garden." 

It was an apple-tree. 

In the afternoon Nemo went off on a long 
tramp of investigation, and I strayed away 
alone, up a still, secluded path, where presently 
I came to a deep ravine. Down its steep sides 
grew a plant that seemed new to me. Yet it 



BERMUDA, 31 

had a strangely familiar air, and a strong de- 
sire seized me to examine its bell-shaped blos- 
soms more closely. But it was out of my reach. 

A colored man was washing a wagon at a 
little distance, and an appeal to him speedily 
resulted in my possession of the coveted treas- 
ures. It was the " life-plant," he said, and it 
grew everywhere. The leaf is much like that 
of our " live-for-ever," and it may be a tropical 
variety of that plant. But it throws up a tall 
flower-stalk, crowned with a profusion of pur- 
plish-crimson bells. If a leaf is pinned to the 
wall it will at once proceed to grow, throwing 
out roots, leaves, and even branches. I have 
never yet heard of one that presumed to bloom 
under these severe conditions j but leaves that 
I brought home with me grew and flourished 
for months, impaled by a barbarous pin. 

I was asked long afterwards, on relating this 
incident, "Were you not afraid, in that wild 
place, to address a perfect stranger, and a black 
man at that ? " 

Perhaps such a thing as discourtesy may be 
known on the islands. I speak only from my 
own experience and observation. Manners, if 
not hearts, are exceedingly friendly. Every- 
body, as a rule, salutes. No man, be he white 
or black, passes a lady without lifting his hat. 
Every child makes its grave little salutation. 



32 BERMUDA. 

Negro women with baskets on their heads give 
you a word or smile, as they go by. Little boys 
and girls steal shyly up with gifts of flowers or 
fruit. If you ask a question it is courteously 
answered ; if you beg a favor it is immediately 
granted. If you look wistfully over a garden 
fence, you are invited in, and you depart laden 
with fragrant spoils. 

To have any fear of anything or anybody 
seems as absurd as it is impossible. 



V. 

Perhaps there is poverty in Bermuda, but 
squalor and absolute want, if they exist, keep 
themselves strangely out of sight. The first 
thing, perhaps, that strikes the visitor, after the 
beauty of the water and the perfection of the 
flowers, is the appearance of ease and well-to-do 
comfort that pervades the islands. There is no 
rubbish, no dirt, no dust, no mud. Instead of 
the tumble-down shanties that deform and de- 
file the rest of the world, here the humblest 
citizen not only dreams of marble halls, but 
actually dwells in them, — or seems to. All 
the houses are built of the native snow-white 
stone, a coral formation that underlies every 
foot of soil. When first quarried, this stone is 
so soft that it can be cut with the knife. But 
it hardens on exposure to the air, and so dura- 
ble is it that a Iwuse once builded is good, for 
at least a hundred years. Every man seems to 
be the owner of a " quarry," so called. He 
who wishes to build him a house has but to 
scrape off a foot or two of the red surface soil, 
and lo ! there, lies his bjuildi.ng material ready to 
3, 



34 BERMUDA. 

his hand, or rather to his saw. No blasting is 
required, no slow, laborious drilling, no vast ex- 
penditure of time and money, such as has made 
so many Vermont marble quarries the mauso- 
leums of dead hopes and buried treasure. 

But if money does not go into the opening 
of these Bermuda quarries, so neither does it 
come out of them — to any great extent; which 
certainly goes far to equalize matters. 

The stone is sawed by hand into cubes, per- 
haps two feet long, one foot wide, and one foot 
thick. These are piled like bricks, with inter- 
stices between for the circulation of the air, and 
left to dry. The vacant space made by the 
removal of the rock forms the cellar, which is 
thus already walled and floored, and the builder 
has only to go on and put up his house. Thin, 
flat slabs of the same stone, placed at a slight 
slop^ form the roof, and this is whitewashed 
periodically, so that the seemingly snow-cov- 
ered roofs of Bermuda strike the eye at once, 
and are in strong contrast to the deep verdure 
in which they are set. 

That this coral formation, which is really a 
species of limestone, readily lends itself to 
architectural purposes is shown by the really 
beautiful interior of Trinity Church, or the Ca- 
thedral, as it is otherwise called. This edi- 
fice is well off for names, for it is also styled a 



BERMUDA. 35 

" Chapel of Ease," whatever that may mean ; I 
confess I do not know. But it is a fine build- 
ing, with a very deep chancel, on either side of 
which (outside the railing) are ranged stately 
pews for the accommodation of the dignitaries, 
civic, military, and ecclesiastic. Several hand- 
some memorial windows add to its dignity and 
give pleasure to visitors. 

A certain air of indescribable quaintness and 
simplicity seemed nevertheless to pervade the 
place, and touched me not a little. In the ves- 
tibule hung a tablet with a pathetic inscription. 
I wish I could give it verbatim, but I can only 
make an approach to it, — 

" Oh, thou who enterest this holy place, de- 
part not till thou shalt have offered up a prayer, 
not only for thyself and thy dear ones, but for 
all those who worship here." 

(I leave the above paragraph, unaltered — 
as a flower dropped by a stranger above the 
ashes of Trinity. But on the loth of Febru- 
ary, 1884, the beautiful church was destroyed 
by fire. It is a loss to the small community 
that can scarcely be measured.) 

The stately villas of Mount Clare and Wood- 
lands and the fine new house of General Hast- 
ings at Fairyland also display the capabilities 
of this stone, as well as the handsome and 
massive gateways, with their arches and col- 



36 BERMUDA. 

umns, that one meets at every turn. These, 
with the well-kept grounds, give an impression 
of affluence and elegance that is, perhaps, 
sometimes misleading. For we are told that 
there are not many large incomes in Bermuda, 
and that the style of living in these beautiful 
and picturesque homes is very simple and un- 
ostentatious. 

It is the very afternoon for a walk, the air 
being cool and bracing, though the sun is hot. 
It is the 3d of April, and the mercury at eight 
A. M. stood at 62° in the shade. " Too cold to 
work' out-of-doors," explained a laborer whom 
our landlord had engaged to work in his gar- 
den ; and forthwith he gathered up his tools 
and departed. Think of that, ye Yankee farm- 
ers, who chop wood and " cut fodder " with 
the thermometer at zero ! 

Shall we go to the North Shore, taking Pem- 
broke church by the way .'' You can see its 
square tower of massive stone rising above the 
trees yonder. The long white roof with the 
two towers, nearly opposite, just beyond that 
stately royal palm, belongs to Woodlands, one 
of the finest places here. Here the hard, 
smooth road leads us on between long avenues 
of cedar-trees, and there between walls of coral 
rock thirty feet high. We pause to rest on a 
low stone wall, where the oleander hedges, 



BERMUDA. 



37 



just bursting into bloom, pink and white and 
vivid crimson, reach far above our heads and 
fill the air with fragrance. Deadly sweet ? 
Poisonous ? May be so, like many other 
charming things. But we '11 risk it, with this 
strong sea-breeze blowing. 

We meet funny, sturdy little donkeys draw- 
ing loads preposterously large ; carts laden 
with crates of onions for the outgoing steamer; 
negro women bearing baskets and bundles on 
their turbaned heads, — tall, erect, stately, of- 
tentimes with strong, clearly cut features al- 
most statuesque in their repose ; children, white 
and black, just out of school, with their books 
and satchels. 

For a wonder, the square-towered Pembroke 
church is closed. But the gate is open, and 
we turn into the quiet churchyard, where so 
many generations lie buried. To unaccustomed 
eyes the scene is a strange one, and the effect 
is most singular. The surface of the ground 
is almost hidden by gra}^, cofhn-shaped tombs, 
like huge sarcophagi, solid and heavy as the 
eternal rocks of the island. As I understand 
it, the bodies are deposited, tier upon tier in 
man}^ cases, in excavations, or tombs, cut in 
the underlying rock ; and these strange struc- 
tures are raised over them. But the impres- 
sion one gets is that of a multitude of great 



38 BERMUDA. 

stone coffins resting on the ground. Very few 
of them bear any inscription. For the most 
part, they are simply numbered, and the record 
of names and dates is kept in a parish book. 

This custom — to which of course there are 
exceptions, as in the case of Bishop Field, who 
lies under a slab of Peterhead granite, suit- 
ably inscribed — has its disadvantages. For 
instance : I was told that on the death of the 
sexton, or clerk, who had charge of one of 
these books of record, his wife claimed the 
book as her own private property, and de- 
manded the sum of twenty pounds as indem- 
nity for giving it up. The parish refused to 
recognize her claim, and the woman in a fit of 
passionate rage destroyed the precious volume. 

This may not be true. I do not vouch for 
it. But ^/"true, it must have been painful and 
tragic, as well as inconvenient. 

But love is the same everywhere, and cares 
for its dead all the same. 

Palms rustle softly. Pride-of-India trees, 
oleanders, and pomegranates wave their boughs 
and scatter their blossoms. Lilies and callas 
and roses in rich profusion make the place 
lovely beyond description, while wreaths and 
crosses lie upon tombs that are gray with age. 
At the head of one grave — that of Governor 
Laffan, who died last year — is a great tub 



BERMUDA, 39 

of English violets. At its foot a sago-palm 
stretches its broad arms as if in benediction. 

We go past the government house, Mount 
Langton, catching a glimpse of the avenue, 
where the boiirganvilier, a tropical vine, covers 
a wall thirty-five feet high with a solid mass 
of crimson flowers. But special permission to 
enter must be had ; so we can only take a sur- 
reptitious glance to-day, and are soon at the 
North Shore, looking straight out to sea. 

The nearest point of land is Cape Hatteras, 
six hundred and fifty miles .away. The strong 
ocean winds, free from all taint of earthly soil 
or sin, sweep over us with strength and heal- 
ing in every breath. And the coloring ! Look ! 
Far oif on the horizon, the sky, azure over- 
head, softens to a pale rose-color. The line 
that meets it is a deep indigo blue, — a blue so 
intense that we can hardly believe it is the sea. 
Thence, through infinite gradations, the color 
faints and fades, from indigo to dark sapphire, 
from sapphire to lapis-lazuli, from lapis-lazuli 
to the palest shade of the forget-me-not. It 
changes, even as we gaze, to deepest emerald, 
which in turn fades to a tender apple-green, 
touched here and there with rose. It dies 
away in saffron and pale amber, where it kisses 
the shore, with long reaches of purple where 
the coral reefs lie hidden. 



40 BERMUDA. 

But as we scramble down upon the rocky 
shore, how the huge breakers foam and fret ! 
They toss their proud heads, and dash them- 
selves against the frowning cliffs with the noise 
of booming thunder. We can scarcely hear our 
own voices, and will run from the spray and 
the tumult to a quieter spot farther on. Here 
we find some oddly shaped shells, and that 
strange creature called the Portuguese man-of- 
war. It looks like a pale bluish pearl, shining 
in the sun ; but it is merely an elliptical blad- 
der, and floats about, balanced by long, blue, 
hanging tentacles. Capture it with cane or 
parasol if you can ; but beware of touching it, 
for it exudes a subtle liquid that will sting you 
like a nettle. 

" Halloo ! " cried Nemo, exultingly. " I 've 
caught them, — two of them ! Come down and 
see how pretty they are, — like fairy boats." 

I was sitting under the lee of a high wall, 
sharing, with serene indifference, the wind's 
sharp tussle with my veil and bonnet strings. 
But I managed to scramble down the rocks 
again. 

" ' Boat ? ' " said I. " It is for all the world 
like a shoe, — a little glass shoe. It is Cinder- 
ella's own slipper ! But what are you going to 
do with them ? " 

"Take them home and see if there is any 



BERMUDA. 41 

way to preserve the things. See the lovely 
iridescent blue tint, like a bit of the sky ! " 

" And see how deftly they are laced, like 
other shoes," I said. " Put them in your hand- 
kerchief, and come on, Nemo. They '11 collapse 
in a minute." 

But they did not. One of them dried per- 
fectly, retaining its shape and much of its ex- 
quisite coloring. 

We wandered home across a field or two 
and through a pleasant grove, from which a 
rough path leads to a high hill which we must 
climb some day, coming out into Cedar Ave- 
nue again, through a slit in the stone wall just 
opposite Pembroke. 

After dinner Mr. T. introduced us to a por- 
cupine fish, — a curious creature, with formi- 
dable-looking quills, but a most innocent and 
infantile expression of countenance. 

" When I caught it," said Mr. T., '' I had 
much ado to keep from chucking it under the 
chin, it looked so like a baby." 



VI. 



Having been to the North Shore yesterday, 
it should certainly be in order to-day to cross 
the island to the Sand Hills, on the South 
Shore, — shortening the distance, if we choose, 
by taking the ferry across the harbor to Paget. 
The ferry is a row-boat, and Charon will take 
us over for a penny ha'penny apiece, with all 
the beauty and the soft sweet airs thrown in. 
Cheap enough, in all conscience ! For here 
are softly undulating shores, green-clad hills, 
white cottages, — each a pearl in setting of em- 
erald, — the busy dock with its quaintly foreign 
aspect, the white-winged yachts flying hither 
and thither, the blue sky overhead, the bluer 
sea below. Is it not worth the money ? Yon- 
der lies a Norwegian ship, with her sailors 
climbing the shrouds like so many monkeys. 
Round the nearest point comes a boat from 
H. M.- ship Tenedos. The Tenedos is lying at 
Grassy Bay, making herself line to receive the 
princess, and her jolly tars are in high spirits. 
When her royal highness sails, next week, what 
witli the flying banners and the gayly dressed 



BERMUDA. 43 

crowd, the blue and white canopy with its flow- 
er-wreathed pillars, the broad scarlet-covered 
steps leading down to the water, the admiral's 
cutter with its blue-jacketed tars, the gold-laced 
admiral himself with his sword and his plumed 
hat and all the rest of the fuss and feathers, it 
will be for all the world like a scene from Pina- 
fore. 

But this morning Jack is bent on getting rid 
of his mone}^ He will manage to leave half a 
year's wages behind him in those queer, dark, 
uninviting little shops on Front Street. For 
there are more enticements hidden away in 
most incongruous nooks and corners than one 
would imagine. You step into a grocery, for 
instance, and find a fine display of amber jew- 
elry. If you are in want of some choice co- 
logne, do not fail to ask for it at the nearest 
shoe-shop. It is as likely to be there as in 
more legitimate quarters. The rule is, If you 
want a thing, hunt till you find it. It is pretty 
sure to be somewhere. 

A pleasant walk from the ferry brings us to 
the Sand Hills, over which we tramp, only paus- 
ing to admire the exquisite oleander blooms, 
the largest we have yet seen. We clamber 
down the rocks, and reach the long, smooth 
white beach, as hard and level as a floor. 
There is a fresh breeze, and the surf comes 



44 BERMUDA. 

rolling in, driving the baby crabs far up the 
beach, and leaving them stranded. We laugh 
at their queer antics for a minute, and then 
leave them to chase the sea-bottles that are roll- 
ing over the sand. Can they really be alive, 
these little globes of iridescent glass filled with 
sea-water ? 

But we turn, erelong, from all the strange 
creatures of the sea to the sea itself, lured by 
its own resistless spell. There is not a being 
in sight, save one lone darkey gathering mus- 
sels in the distance. There is not a sign of 
human habitation ; only the long stretch of 
sandy beach, the rocky background, and the 
wide ocean, vast, lonely, illimitable. We write 
dear names on the sand, and with half a smile 
and a whole sigh watch the tide as it blots 
them out. What do we care that myriads be- 
fore us have played at the same childish game ? 
Higher and still higher up we write them, but 
the result is always the same. The cruel, 
crawling, hungry sea stretches its hand over 
them, and they are gone. 

Nemo wanders off, after a while, to interview 
the darkey, and inquire into the details of the 
traffic in mussels. The wind is blowing briskly ; 
the tide is rolling in from far beyond the reefs 
over which it foams and frets. I sit on one 
rock, under the shelter of another, and fancy 



BERMUDA. 45 

flies fast and far into " the dark backward and 
abysm of time." 

For here on this very South Shore, tradition 
saith, did Ariel leave the king's son, Ferdi- 
nand, — 

" Cooling of the air with sighs 
In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting, 
His arms in this sad knot." 

Here, too, did the tricksy sprite assure his 
master that 

" Safely in harbor 
Is the king's ship ; in the deep nook, where once 
Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew 
From the still-vexed Bermoothes, there she 's hid." 

How appropriate is this epithet one can 
scarcely understand until he has seen the chaf- 
ing of the sea over the rugged rocks and reefs 
that in Shakespeare's time were thought to 
be the abode of monsters and devils. Where 
was Prospero's cell ? Where slept the fair 
Miranda ? Upon what bank sat Ferdinand 
when Ariel sang, " Come unto these yellow 
sands " ? 

" Full fathom five thy father lies ; 

Of his bones are coral made ; 
Those are pearls that were his eyes : 

Nothing of him that doth fade 
But doth suffer a sea-change 
Into something rich and strange." 



46 BERMUDA. 

Hark ! Who knows but the sweet, low mu- 
sic of the waves owes half its magic to the 
spell of Ariel's remembered song ? Where 
dwelt the " foul witch, Sycorax " ? and in which 
of these caverns, the very darkest and wildest 
of them all, was the lair of Caliban ? 

With some handsome crab-shells, and two or 
three " sea-bottles," — curious little bladders 
filled with sea-water, looking precisely like glass 
marbles of palest amber, — we climbed the 
rocks again, and wandered back to the thicket 
of oleanders. The blooms were of immense 
size, and of every gradation of color, ranging 
from purest white, through all the intermediate 
shades of pink, to deepest crimson. 

" From this day forth," I said, " deliver me 
from a stunted oleander, growing in a ten-inch 
pot, and tormented by scaly-bugs." 

It is an unwritten law in Bermuda that one 
should always go by one road and return by 
another. Rather than break it we strolled on, 
following a wall that led — somewhere. Pretty 
soon a youngster of ten pattered up behind us, 
and gravely answered our salute, looking at us 
askance from under his broad-brimmed pal- 
metto hat. Under the beguiling influence of 
a penny, however, he soon grew communica- 
tive ; and presently confided to us the story of 
his woes. He had not had so much as a 



BERMUDA. 47 

glimpse of the princess ! and she was going 
away in a few days ! All the rest of the 
family had seen her ; but even on the day of 
her reception at St. George's he had to stay 
at home to mind the house. Poor little man ! 
and there might never be a princess in Ber- 
muda again. 

" But," he added, as if to console himself, 
" they say she dresses very plain ! " 

" Is it possible ? '' said I. " I thought a 
princess had rings on her fingers and bells on 
her toes, and that, if she were a very great 
princess indeed, she wore some kind of a 
crown. Is n't that so ? " 

" Oh, no ! " he said, half under his breath. 
" Why, they say she goes shopping in calico ! " 

To appreciate this one should have heard 
the emphasis on the last w^ord. But having 
thus delivered himself, he brightened up, and 
began pegging stones at a bluebird. 

A familiar plant grew by the wall, but by 
one of memory's per\^erse tricks I could not 
recall the name of it. 

" What is that, my boy 1 " I asked, touching 
it w^ith my parasol. " What do you call it ? " 

" Flannel plant," said he. 

" What ? " I repeated. 

" Flannel plant." 

" Is that what your mother calls it ? " 



48 BERMUDA. 

"Yes'm." 

" Behold how language changes and de- 
generates," said Nemo, picking a bunch of 
aromatic fennel. "When this bo3^'s great- 
grandmother came over from Old England, and 
brought a root of her favorite herb with her, 
doubtless she called it fennel. Fennel, fannel, 
flannel ; there you have it." 

The urchin listened with wide eyes. Then 
as we reached the parting of the ways, he 
dashed round a corner and disappeared. 

Ten minutes afterwards, as we passed a little 
shop at the cross-roads, we saw him standing 
in the doorway eating a stick of striped candy. 
That penny had burned a hole in his pocket. 
Boy nature is pretty much the same every- 
where. 

We came out near the pretty Paget church, 
rested for a while under a palm-tree, and 
then strolled on down the shaded road to the 
ferry, which we recrossed in time to dress for 
dinner. 

Our balcony looked very cool and inviting. 
Within, the great, white, shadowy room was 
fragrant with masses of roses and lilies. You 
can't buy flowers in Bermuda ; but its whole 
world is ready to give them to you, if you are 
known to love them, without money and with- 
out price. 



BERMUDA. 49 

" I believe I am tired," I said, sinking into 
an easy-chair. " Nemo, give me one of those 
shell-roses to comfort myself with." 

" Lady Mither, do you know you have walked 
more than three miles ? What would they say 
at home ? " 

4 



VII. 

Did I say it would be like a scene from Pina- 
fore ? It was ! They were all there, Ralph 
Rackstraw, Sir Something Somebody, K. C. 
B., the able-bodied seamen from the Queen's 
Navee, and the whole crowd, uncles and broth- 
ers, as well as the sisters, the cousins, and the 
aunts. One had but to close one's eyes to 
the surroundings, — but to shut out the atmos- 
phere, — and the little pavilion became the 
stage at which we have all looked more than 
once. Only the footlights were missing. 

The Oronoco was lying at her dock, very 
near the flight of stone steps from which her 
royal highness was to embark, and a large 
party of us secured good places on her upper 
deck, which overlooked the blue-canopied pa- 
vilion. For it was impossible not to catch a 
little of the enthusiasm that thrilled the hearts 
of the loyal Bermudians. We laughed slyly at 
ourselves, and good-naturedly at each other; 
but nevertheless we all went to see the show. 

And a pretty show it was. Not grand, nor 
imposing; but under that blue sky, with the 



BERMUDA. 5 1 

clear sunshine irradiating all things and mak- 
ing the sea, that was bluer even than the sky, 
glow and sparkle with wonderful intensity ; with 
flags flying from every housetop and window, 
and fluttering from every mast-head ; with sail- 
boats gliding hither and yon like so many 
white-winged birds ; with the red coats of the 
soldiers and the blue jackets of the sailors mak- 
ing picturesque bits of color here and there; 
with the eager, expectant faces, black and white ; 
the restless, impatient children, the flowers and 
the streamers, it was c: pretty sight and well 
worth seeing. 

From our perch on the Oronoco we could 
look down into the flower-wreathed pavilion 
which had been erected at the head of the 
broad flight of stairs leading down from the 
dock to the water. On either side of it rose 
tiers of seats, one above another, for the ac- 
commodation of the insular dignitaries. These 
slowly filled even to the topmost row. Car- 
riages dashed hither and thither. There was 
a sound of distant music, and down the street 
from Prospect filed the long ranks of the Royal 
Irish Rifles, in dark green uniforms picked 
out with white, and drew up in line across the 
street. Round the point sv/ept the admiral's 
cutter, rowed by eight oarsmen, and drew up 
at the foot of the stairs. 



52 BERMUDA. 

And still we waited. The pavilion itself was 
empty, save for one old man with a broom, who 
persistently swept and smoothed the scarlet 
cloth, with broad border of blue, that covered 
every inch of the floor and steps. Evidently 
there would be no shred of lint, no speck of 
dust, to profane the unwonted dignity of that 
carpet while he was to the fore ! 

Finally appeared his honor the mayor, then 
his excellency Lieutenant -General Gallway, 
governor and commander-in-chief j and shortly 
after, the admiral, Sir John Edmund Com- 
merell, V. C, K. C. B., in full uniform, with- his 
cocked hat, plumed and gold-laced, and all the 
paraphernalia of his office. 

But still we waited. Her royal highness was 
to have sailed at half past two, and it was now 
three. 

" The Princess Louise has not her mother's 
business-like promptness," said a gentleman 
near us. " Nobody ever has to wait for the 
Queen." 

At length a carriage came sweeping round 
the curve of the bay. All eyes turned in that 
direction, and the green uniforms opposite were 
on the alert. It was not the princess, but it 
was the ladies of her suite. And finally she 
appeared, the observed of all observers, clad 
in olive browns from tip to toe. There was 



BERMUDA. 53 

not much cheering. The crowd was a very si- 
lent one. It seemed to a looker-on that hearts 
were a little too full for noisy demonstration. 
The feeling of Bermuda for Louise was more 
than simple loyalty. It was real aifection. 
The island had taken her to its very heart. 

But now the end had come. His honor 
made his little speech, — which was quite inau- 
dible from our stand-point, — a little girl pre- 
sented a big bouquet nearly as tall as herself, 
Governor Gallway paid his devoirs, and then 
the princess made her farewells, shaking hands 
with every one who approached her, high or 
low, black or white, and seeking out many who 
did not venture to seek her. 

The admiral was just about handing her into 
the boat, when she saw standing at the head of 
the stairs, with disappointment visible in her 
face, an elderly lady in black who had in some 
way been overlooked in the adieux. Turning 
quickly, she ran back up the long flight like a 
school-girl, took the old lady's hand and held it 
while saying a few words that will surely never 
be forgotten, then ran down again, and stepped 
lightly into the boat. 

Oars flashed in the sun, the cutter flew over 
the shining waves, and in a few moments we 
saw a lithe brown figure ascending the ladder 
of the Supply, which, convoyed by the whole 



54 BERMUDA. 

fleet of yachts, moved slowly down the harbor. 
The Tenedos, in which the princess was to sail, 
lay in waiting at Grassy Bay. There was much 
waving of handkerchiefs, there were cries of 
*' Good-by ! good-by ! " and " God bless her ! " 
but there were no shouts or cheers. Bermudian 
annals will long make mention of " the year the 
princess was here." 

The air was full of stories about her, and 
her relations to the people, all that season. 
Some were pretty, and some were funny ; and 
many of them were repeated and garbled by 
industrious and adventurous reporters, till they 
bore scarce a trace of resemblance to the 
facts. But that Louise was greatly attracted 
to, and amused by, the colored people, and 
that she delighted to enter their houses and 
talk to them, is undoubtedly true, whether she 
ironed old Mammy's shirts or not. She en- 
joyed to the full the rare freedom of her life 
in the island, its lack of conventional re- 
straints, and the simplicity and warm-hearted- 
ness of the people. She went among them 
with little or no formality, inviting herself to 
lunch with them and to join, at times, in their 
festivities ; merging, as it were, the princess in 
the lady. She drove about in a little basket 
phaeton, and went " shopping in calico," pro- 
viding for her small menage like any other 



BERMUDA. 55 

housekeeper. A laughable story is told of a 
tradesman of whom she asked the price of 
some trifle. 

" Our price, your royal highness," he said, 

— " our price is three shillings. But to yoic we 
shall make it t^vo-and-nine ! " 

" Even the birds call me ' Louise/ in Ber- 
muda," she wrote to a friend. 

Which only proves that the cardinal gros- 
beak is the most arrant trifler that ever made 
love to trusting hearts. I am positive that he 
was continually calling " Julie ! Julie ! " in the 
very sweetest and most persuasive accents ; 
and numberless other women are ready to 
swear that their names were the sole burden of 
his song. What shall be done to him ? for he 
is* the veriest rogue and madcap that ever 
flashed like a scarlet flame from tree to tree. 
He fairly lights up the landscape with his bril- 
liant plumage, while his constant companions, 
the bluebirds, are like bits of the sky itself, 

— such an intense and exquisite blue as is 
seldom seen. 

Very beautiful, too, are the dainty little 
ground doves, — diminutive creatures scarcely 
larger than your thumb, clad in Quaker gray, 
and as demure as their garb. They are seen 
ever}'where, in pairs and in flocks, bowing and 
cooing and picking their way about in the very 



56 BERMUDA. 

daintiest fashion. I never happened to see 
one on the wing, — though of course they fly, 
like other doves. 

There are many other birds, casual or acci- 
dental visitors from far-off shores, and migra- 
tory in their habits. But these are at home on 
the island, and so overshadow all the others 
that one scarcely notices them. A few other 
varieties remain through the year. 

St. Patrick must some time have visited Ber- 
muda, for snakes are unknown. The nearest 
approach to a reptile is the turtle, and one 
or two varieties of lizards. Spiders are numer- 
ous, and occasionally one sees a veteran of ex- 
ceedingly large proportions, — a regular Dan- 
iel Lambert of a spider, — who will peer down 
at you from over your door, or suddenly ap- 
pear to you at dead of night silhouetted on the 
white wall of your chamber, in rather startling 
fashion. 

But though not exactly agreeable comrades, 
they are entirely harmless, and one soon learns 
not to mind their antics. We were in an old 
house, too, where perhaps they throve better 
than in newer quarters. 

It is said there is not a poisonous plant or 
a venomous insect in Bermuda, unless one 
may call mosquitoes venomous. Yet, in the 
case of plants, especially, it is hard to under- 



BERMUDA. 57 

stand how or why this should be. No plants 
seem to be indigenous there, but all were con- 
veyed thither by natural or artificial means. 
Why this conveyance should have been re- 
stricted to such as were not harmful it is not 
easy to see. When the island was discovered 
it had but one variety of tree, — the cedar, or 
juniper, which is even yet more numerous than 
all the rest combined. 

The little blue Bermudiana, a larger growth 
of our familiar "blue-eyed grass," stars the 
ground everywhere ; the trailing crab - grass 
clothes it in perennial green; the wild sage- 
bush meets you at every turn. I was quite 
in love with a pretty thistle, with sage-green 
leaves and a single flower of pale-lemon color, 
that grows by the waysides. The rose-gera- 
nium is as common and as hardy as our may- 
weed. And oh, wonder of wonders, — callas 
and caladiums, the pets and dainty darlings of 
our greenhouses, grow in out-of-the-way cor- 
ners, seemingly at their own wild will ! I must 
say, however, that I thought the former not so 
delicate and beautiful as when grown in pots, 
as with us. They bear no comparison to the 
wonderful Easter lilies of Bermuda. 



VIII. 

It is Sunday morning, and all eyes are 
turned anxiously to the signal station of Mount 
Langton. As we look, a red-white-and-blue pen- 
nant flies from the yardarm, announcing that 
the steamer from New York is in sight. Now 
we can go to church in peace, sure of getting 
our mail some time to-morrow. It is impos- 
sible to get it to-day, and after a little natural 
Yankee grumbling at Bermudian slowness we 
accept the situation. What does it matter.? 
What does anything matter in this lazy, lotus- 
eating land, where it seems always afternoon ? 

The Bermudians are a church-going people. 
The question asked is not, " Are you going to 
church to-day ? " but, " Where are you going ? " 
The going is taken for granted, as it used to be 
in New England. Yet there is no Puritanic 
sombreness. All is gay and bright. Flags fly 
in honor of the day from Mount Langton, from 
Admiralty House, and from the shipping in the 
harbor. At half past nine a. m. precisely a 
pennant flies from the staff in Victoria Park, 
to announce that church time is near. 



BERMUDA. 59 

We Hamiltonians can go to Pembroke, beau- 
tifully set in its garden of green ; or to Trinity, 
a handsome church, with fine memorial win- 
dows, and columns and arches of the native 
stone. Or we can get Charon to row us across 
the ferry, and stroll for a mile along a quiet, 
shaded country road to the beautiful Paget 
church. If we do this last, we shall surely be 
tempted to rest a while on a low stone wall 
that runs parallel with the road behind the 
parish school, and try to fix the lovely picture 
in our minds forever. 

We can easily find a Presbyterian kirk and 
a Wesleyan chapel. But here, as in England, 
Dissenters are in the minority, the union of 
church and state being very close. Surgeon 
General John Ogilvy, in a little pamphlet is- 
sued last year, gives the following table show- 
ing the religious preferences of the inhabitants, 
according to the census of 1881 : — 

Church of England 10,003 

Wesleyan 1,672 

Methodist Episcopal 752 

Roman Catholic 391' 

Reformed Episcopal 208 

Wherever we go, however, we shall find the 
same pleasant and cordial mingling of whites 
and blacks in the audience. Bermuda does 
not raise a partition wall between her children, 



6o 



BERMUDA. 



setting the light on one side, the dark on the 
other. Their pews are side by side in the 
flower-decked churches, and as a rule the col- 
ored people are as neatly dressed, as well man- 
nered, and as devout as their lighter brethren. 
One cannot look upon their tranquil, thought- 
ful faces, or hear their low -toned, musical 
voices in the responses, without thanking God 
for what fifty years of freedom, under favora- 
ble auspices, can do for the black race. 

Just here I beg to make a short extract from 
Dr. Ogilvy : — 

" The colored people of the island are the 
descendants of the old negro and American 
Indian slaves, much intermingled with white 
blood, and are gradually, by their energy and 
wish to improve themselves, by schooling and 
otherwise, taking up a better position with re- 
gard to the whites. They are also slowly ac- 
quiring the ownershijD of patches of land, and 
dotting the country with their cottages of lime- 
washed stone. The rural population is, per- 
haps, better housed than in most countries. 
This is favored by the continual subdivision of 
the land into small parcels. . . . The still 
higher development of the colored race may 
be looked for in the not distant future. Even 
now their ambition aspires to a share in the 
administration, although caste prejudices are 



BERMUDA. 6 1 

still strong, even amongst the different strata 
of the European residents. At least one mem- 
ber of the House of Assembly is a colored 
man." 

Dr. Ogilvy refers to the energy of the race, 
and to their wish to improve themselves and 
their condition. His position as principal 
medical officer, Bermuda Command, gives him 
unquestionable facilities for knowing whereof 
he speaks. It is the fashion, however, to say 
that the blacks are lazy and shiftless ; a state- 
ment that, as far as a mere observer could 
judge, does not seem to be exactly warranted 
by the facts. Certainly their houses are as good 
as those of the lower class of whites, and in 
many cases very much better j their little fields 
are as well tilled, and they themselves are as 
well clothed and as well fed. I was told that 
they were more eager than the working classes 
among the whites to avail themselves of all 
the privileges of the schools for their children. 

As for their " laziness," everybody is lazy 
in Bermuda, speaking from a New England 
point of view j but it is a very charming lazi- 
ness, and it remains to be proved that the 
blacks are any more fond of taking their ease 
than are their white brethren. It is in the very 
air. The land is a lovely, dreamy, restful land, 
and to expect of its children the push and " go- 



62 BERMUDA. 

ahead-a-tive-ness " of a typical Yankee is to 
expect impossibilities. 

A little good-natured laughter may be al- 
lowed when one discovers that a tradesman, 
getting a little tired of the pressing cares of 
business, simply locks his door and goes off to 
recreate for a longer or shorter period, as the 
case may be. One may smile at the fabulous 
story of the commission merchant who still 
keeps open doors, — if the sun shines, — and 
who thinks he docs a good business though he 
has not had a fresh consignment of goods since 
1858 ! But most of us have two strains of 
blood in our natures. The wide-awake, stirring 
northern current might rebel after a while, at 
the easy, careless, happy-go-lucky life of these 
islands. I rather think it would, in most cases. 
But it suits the sensuous southern strain to a 
charm ; and as most of us came here for rest 
and recuperation, why should we quarrel with 
it } Why should we not take the good the 
gods provide, and be therewith content .'* If we 
can carry home with us a little Eermudian re- 
pose to engraft upon the stock of our Amer- 
ican restlessness and feverish excitability, the 
fruit our trees will bear in the next generation 
may, perhaps, be all the sweeter. 

Bermuda belongs to the see of Newfound- 
land and Labrador, the bishop making a yearly 



BERMUDA. 63 

visitation. What a rounding of the circle, — 
to live half the year in frozen Labrador, and 
half in soft Bermuda ! 

There are nine parishes, with the names of 
which the visitor soon grows as familiar as 
with the streets of his native town ; if he stays 
long he talks of St. George's, Hamilton Parish, 
Smith's Parish, Devonshire, Pembroke, Paget, 
Warwick, Southampton, and Sandys as glibly 
as the islanders themselves. Hamilton Par- 
ish, however, must not be confounded with the 
town of Hamilton, which is in the parish of Pem- 
broke. Each parish has its own church, but it 
is often the case that one clergyman officiates 
in two parishes, holding service in one in the 
forenoon and in the other in the afternoon or 
evening. Wherever we went we found the mu- 
sic good, the services conducted with great rev- 
erence and decorum, and the attendance what 
we should consider exceptionally large in pro- 
portion to the number of inhabitants. Crowds 
of children, both white and colored, running 
and walking hand in hand, neatly dressed, and 
with happy, smiling faces, thronged the Sun- 
day-schools. 

It strikes one singularly to hear in this re- 
mote dot in the boundless seas that schools 
and public libraries were introduced as far 
back as 1631.; and that under the influence of 



64 BERMUDA. 

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, church mat- 
ters excited general interest, — Sabbath-break- 
ing, intoxication, witchct'aft^ and other offenses 
being punished with Puritanical rigor. Shade 
of Cotton Mather! Who can believe it? 

Yet we are told, too, that the first Methodist 
minister who was sent from England to Ber- 
muda, in 1799, was received with great intol- 
erance, and was submitted to persecution and 
imprisonment. This state of things lasted 
but a short time, however, and there are now 
nine Wesleyan churches, one Methodist Epis- 
copal, two Presbyterian, one Reformed Epis- 
copal, and one Roman Catholic. 

Variety enough for nineteen sparsely settled 
square miles ! Bermuda would have afforded 
a beautiful field for the establishment of the 
one Broad Church of which we dream. But it 
must needs follow the fashion, and weaken its 
strength by splitting itself up into diverse and 
opposing sects, like all the rest of the world. 

Parliament is composed of a legislative and 
executive council, appointed by the crown, and 
an assembly. The latter, formed of four mem- 
bers from each parish, is elected for a term of 
seven years. The schools are in charge of the 
parish authorities, who are empowered to enr 
force attendance. A fine is exacted from the 
parent if the child fails to appear. There are 



BERMUDA. 65 

also several private schools, which are said to 
be good. At all events, the Bermudians are 
refined and intelligent, and by far the greater 
number, of course, have been educated at 
home. Now and then the son or daughter of 
a well-to-do family is sent to England to be 
" finished," but one meets many bright and 
clever men and women who have never left 
the islands. 

Several attempts have been made to estab- 
lish a college, or classical school of a high 
grade, but they seem to have come to naught. 
It is said that the public schools have much 
to contend with in the absence of thoroughly 
trained teachers, — a want not easily filled so 
far from the sources of supply. 

Slavery, which was established about the 
year 1618, and which had been a gentle bon- 
dage from the first-, was abolished in 1834, 
without the usual term of apprenticeship. 
There were at that time 4,200 slaves in the 
islands. England paid the owners at the rate 
of about seven pounds for each slave, — cer- 
tainly not an exorbitant sum for flesh and 
blood, with the soul thrown in, if it is worth 
anything. But emancipation proved an entire 
success. Most of the slaves were greatly at- 
tached to their masters, and they all received 
the gift of freedom with absolute equanimity. 



IX. 



I FOUND myself continually wondering how 
life looked, what the wide world was like, to 
eyes that had seen nothing but blue seas, 
blue skies, perpetual summer, and the narrow 
spaces of this island group. What impressions 
do they form of vast, silent, lonely prairies, 
almost as limitless as their ocean reaches ? 
what of towering mountains and far-stretching 
continents ? How do they picture snow and 
hoar-frost, — like wool ? How do they dream 
of crowded cities, single streets of which give 
shelter to more inhabitants than those of all 
Bermuda? Cathedrals, temples, towers, and 
palaces, — the whole domain of art and rec- 
ondite learning, with its galleries, its libraries, 
its museums ; the world of humanity, with its 
large charities, its vast enterprises, its com- 
merce that binds nations together in bonds of 
common interest, — how can they grasp them 
all? 

It would be strange if a certain insular nar- 
rowness were not sometimes to be felt, as when 
a lady said to her friend, " I wonder what the 



BERMUDA. ' 67 

world would do without Bermuda ! Just think 
how many potatoes and onions we export ! " 

A bright little girl said to me, " I would like 
to visit you. If ever I go to America, I would 
seek to find your house." 

What comprehension could she have of any 
place, or any state of society, in which it would 
not be easy to find the way to the house of 
any friend ? 

It is a blessed fact that one's own home is 
the hub of the universe. Bermuda does not 
seem small to its inhabitants. To them it is 
the world, and holds the fullness thereof. 
" The maps do not do us justice," said one of 
them to the writer. "For you see we really 
are not so very small." 

But the truth is that in its exceeding small- 
ness lies one of its chief charms. And to 
realize how small it is one must visit the light- 
house, a drive of six miles, or so, from Hamil- 
ton. Down the hill to Front Street, past Par- 
liament House and the Public ^Library, past 
Pembroke Hall and its group of Royal Palms, 
— five magnificent trees, lifting their stately, 
granite-colored shafts like columns in some an- 
cient temple, — round the harbor, and then on 
through Paget and Warwick to Gibbs's Hill in 
Southampton. This is one of the most de- 
lightful drives possible, the road running past 



68 BERMUDA. 

fine country mansions and cosy cottages, with 
here and there a glimpse of the shining sea. 
Just where we leave the highway to go to 
Gibbs's Hill we pass a ruined house, weird and 
sombre in its desolation. It is a place to 
haunt one's dreams. The high stone steps 
are worn in great suggestive hollows. The 
water tank is empty, and rats have taken pos- 
session. From the broken windows ghostly 
faces seem peering out. But we pick a gera- 
nium that flaunts gayly in the sun by the shat- 
tered door-sill, and go on our upward and wind- 
ing way to the light-house. 

All one has to do to make a cutting grow in 
Bermuda is to stick it in the ground, — either 
end up ! It seemed to make little difference 
which. On returning home that night I put 
the slip from the " ruined-house geranium " in 
a pot of lilies on the balcony. It took root 
immediately, and is growing to- day under the 
shadow of snow -clad hills. What does it 
think of them, I wonder ? 

Up and up we go until we reach what is next 
to the highest point on the islands. Yet 
Gibbs's Hill, which enjoys this amazing alti- 
tude, is only 245 feet above high-water level. 
The light-house is a massive tower of stone, 
filled in with concrete, 130 feet high. From 
the deck of a ship, forty feet from the water, the 



BERMUDA. 69 

light can be seen about thirty-three miles away. 
It is, we are told, a " revolving dioptric lens of 
the first order, with mirrors," which will with- 
out doubt be intelligible to every reader, be he 
scientific or not. It has one centre lamp of 
three concentric wicks, and is among the larg- 
est and most powerful lights in the world. It 
shows a bright flash continuing for six or eight 
seconds, and repeated once every minute. 

The ascent of the lofty tower is not difficult, 
in spite of its height, for after mounting the 
first twenty-two feet, to the main floor, you find 
yourself in a large and airy room where you 
can sit and rest as long as you please. Above 
that are twelve flights of stairs and twelve 
other rooms ; thus avoiding the continuous, 
breathless ascent that is so fatiguing. Then 
comes the gallery; but before going out we 
must climb the steep and narrow stairs into the 
light itself. The whole building is most ex- 
quisitely kept, its polished floors and glittering 
brasses being dainty enough for my lady's bou- 
doir. By looking into the lens, you get a 
lovely view of the scene below in miniature. 
The effect is like that of a Claude Lorraine 
glass. 

Civil service means something in Bermuda. 
One of the three keepers told me he had not 
left his lonely eyrie for a night in seventeen 



70 BERMUDA. 

years, and it was evident he considered himself 
settled for life. Very proud were the three of 
their stately and beautiful charge, touching the 
costly and delicate machinery as tenderly as if 
it were a sentient being and felt their caressing 
hands. 

But it is the view from the gallery we came 
to see, and out we go, with a word of caution 
from the guide as to the wind. We are on the 
very outermost point of the southwestern coast, 
and from where we stand we can take in the 
whole island group, from St. George's to Ire- 
land. What a little spot it is, to be sure ! — a 
mere point in the illimitable waste of waters 
that stretch away to the horizon on every side. 
The little Isle of Wight is eight times as large. 
But the view is magnificent beyond description. 
The coloring, the exquisite, ethereal softness of 
the changeful tints of sea and sky and purple 
reefs fading to palest amethyst, while blending 
with it all is a glow and fire like the light in 
the heart of a diamond, — this is something 
that cannot be put into words. To the right 
and to the left stretch the larger islands, with 
their fair green shores. Before us lies the 
Great Sound, studded with fairy islets, each 
flooded with a mystic glory, beyond which the 
eye seeks the far horizon. Below us, at our 
very feet, are " The Sickle " and " The Spec- 



BERMUDA. 71 

tacles " islands, so named from their shape. 
White houses, half buried in foliage, dot the 
landscape from one extremity to the other. In 
short, it is worth the half of one's kingdom to 
stand for just half an hour, of a clear after- 
noon, on the lighthouse tower at Gibbs's Hill. 

How long we stood there I will not under- 
take to say. We were very silent. It was not 
a thing to chatter about. But at length I ven- 
tured on a commonplace. 

"Nemo," I said, "we have made a mistake.'* 

He looked at me anxiously, disentangling 
my long veil that the wind had wound about his 
arm. " In coming up here ? Was it too much 
for you ? Dear me, I 'm sorry ! But it will be 
easier going down." 

" No, no," I said ; " it is not that at all. 
Our mistake was in not coming earlier. One 
should come here the very first thing, — to get 
the lay of the land, if for no other reason. It 
is better than studying a dozen maps." 



X. 

" What if I were to go to Chubb's Cut to- 
day, Lady Mither ? " said Nemo, one morning 
as he came in from breakfast. " Wliat would 
you do with yourself ? For it is quite too hard 
a trip for you." 

" ' Chubb's Cut ' ! " I repeated. " What and 
where may that be ? " 

" Pilot Scott can answer that question better 
than I ; but it is one of the outermost of the 
outer reefs. Two or three of us have thought 
of going out. We should take the Moondyne 
to Boaz, hire Pilot Scott and his boat for eight- 
een shillings, take our lunch, and make a day 
of it. But what would you do, meanwhile ? " 

"Never mind me," I answered. "I shall 
write three letters. I shall mend my dress. I 
shall fill these vases with the pomegranate flow- 
ers you brought me from Peniston's yesterday, 
adding some scarlet heath and two white lil- 
ies. Perhaps I shall read a chapter in Mrs. 
Child's " Life and Letters." Then I shall put 
on my bonnet and go in search of the amber 
you wot of, and if my money holds out I shall 



BERMUDA. 73 

buy me a cross and a rosary. After lunch I 
shall ask Saint Catharine to go rowing with 
me — and " — 

" Hold, hold ! that 's enough ! and I think I 
may leave you with a clear conscience," cried 
Nemo, as he strode off, laughing. 

I carried out my programme to the letter. 
After a good deal of trouble, I found the place 
where I had heard there was some fine amber, 
and it held me fascinated for an hour. 

Where does amber get its strange poetic 
charm? — a charm of which even its prosaic 
association with croup cannot rob it? The 
cyclopaedia may go on telling us it is a " fos- 
silized vegetable gum " till doomsday ; but 
who in his inmost heart believes it ? It is liq- 
uid light crystallized. These clear, transparent 
drops can own no lower origin. 

Here in this queer place — • a room connected 
with a common grocery — I found among num- 
berless strings of cheap amber some necklaces 
and bracelets of rare beauty; clear, translucent 
orbs that did indeed " answer to the sun." 

" Oh, liquidly the sunlight filters through 

These shining spheres of warm translucent gold, 
Changing to drops of rich and wondrous hue, 
Like precious wine of vintage rare and old." 

I bought a necklace, to be worn some day by 
one whose rich, dark beauty will adorn it : — 



74 BERMUDA. 

" An amulet, not made of gems or gold, 

But drops of light imprisoned from above. 

Gold were too heavy, gems too hard and cold ; 

And only amber suits the soul of love ! " 

That evening I bedecked myself with these 
spoils, not of war, but of research. With an 
apologetic " Allow me," a lady touched the 
cross lightly. " This tells its own story," she 
said. " You found it in Rome 1 " 

" No," I answered ; " I found it here, this 
morning, in a grocery not far from the Bishop's 
lodge. Rome is everywhere, if one only looks 
for it." 

After lunch Saint Catharine and I went down 
to the dock, where we speedily found a boat 
and a stalwart oarsman. He looked to me for 
orders as he took up his oars. 

" Round White's Island first, that we may 
pay our respects to the Lady of the Prow." 

The man looked bewildered for a moment; 
then a slow smile crept over his dark face. 

" You want to go by the old hulk, lady ? Is 
that it ? " 

"Yes, — the one with the white figure-head." 

Very soon we were under the bows of a once 
magnificent ship, — now a blackened hulk, — 
looking up at the grand white figure of a woman 
with strong, impassive face and steadfast eyes 
that peered out over the deep with earnest, 



BERMUDA. 75. 

questioning gaze. What had they not seen, 
those eyes ? What storms had she not breasted, 
what iDerils had she not encountered, still with 
that calmj unshrinking front ? She was strength, 
courage, and faith personified." 

" ' Ora pro nobis, 't is nightfall on the sea,' " 
we chanted under our breath ; and then we 
glided away, past Fairyland, with its wooded 
knolls and shady retreats, to Magazine Island. 
Here great quantities of ammunition are stored, 
and powder enough to blow up the whole island 
range. The place is strictly guarded \ and by 
day and by night an armed sentry paces back 
and forth on the path from the little dock to 
the magazine or storehouse, peering into the 
barred entrance to the latter at every turn. 

A number of marines were lazily sunning 
themselves on the rocks. As we rowed around 
the island, they rose and followed us, keeping 
us constantly in sight, — whether from mere 
curiosity, or because it was their duty to keep 
an eye on all strangers, is more than I can 
say. 

"Can you row into the caves, do you think ? " 
asked Saint Catharine, smiling sweetly. 

" Unless it is too near low tide, lady," replied 
our dark gondolier ; and in a moment we were 
in a low, broad cave, hung with rude stalactites 
and dripping with moisture. 



76 BERMUDA. 

These caves are to be found all along the 
coasts, and seem to have been formed — 

But I will not attempt to say how, or by what, 
— unless it may be by the force of the advanc- 
ing and receding waves washing away the sand 
and debris, and leaving the hardened coral 
rock. It would take a geologist — which I am 
not — to account for them scientifically. 

But they are very curious and interesting, 
full of strange growths and marine formations. 
Here the sea-anemones cling to the rocks and 
shrink like the leaves of the sensitive plant if 
you do but touch them. As large as your hat 
at one moment, and gorgeous in pink and gold, 
at the approach of a cane or parasol they will 
collapse into utter nothingness, and withdraw 
wholly out of sight in the crevices of the rocks. 
Here are curious creatures called "suck-rocks" 
by the boatmen, — a very aristocrat of a shell- 
fish that lives in a lovely boat, daintily curved 
and jointed, soft ashen gray on the outside and 
lined with blue satin. 

Here, too, perhaps, a Portuguese man-of-war 
will sail defiantly near you. Little cares he for 
soldiers or marines, arsenals or ammunition ! 

We passed negro fishermen with seines, and 
paused to watch them as they drew in their 
nets, filled with the scaly spoil. 

There was just motion enough to make the 



BERMUDA. 77 

boat dance ; the sun was veiled by light, fleecy 
clouds; the heat was tempered by the gentle 
breeze. 

"Take us out beyond Spanish Point," I said, 
" where the surf is dashing over the reefs ; and 
then land us at the point." 

How lovely it all was ! Do you remember it, 
sweet Saint Catharine, of the dove-like eyes? 
We strayed about on the shining beach; we 
climbed the rocks, and, sitting in a sheltered 
nook, our eyes wandered far across the blue and 
sparkling bay to the green shores of Somerset 
and Boaz, picturesque with arched bridges and 
peaceful as a dream, — then on to Ireland Isl- 
and, with its forts, its many masts, and all the 
stir of active live. It is the only busy place in 
all Bermuda. 

We lay on the soft, warm sand, and picked 
up myriads of shells, — such tiny, frail, softly- 
tinted things that we could but pity them as we 
thought of their long buffetings with wind and 
wave. We repeated, as the small breakers 
chased each other up the beach, Helen Lud- 
low's poem of " The Little White Beggars " that 
begged "for the shells and the seaweed and 
sand;" and finally, after a long afternoon of 
pure delight, we got into our boat again, and 
were rowed slowly homeward in the sunset 
glow. 



7.8 BERMUDA. 

Saint Catharine had been in Bermuda much 
'longer than I, and felt herself quite an old res- 
ident. " What is that ? " I asked, pointing to 
a low monument gleaming on a lonely point of 
rock that projected into the sea. " I am sure 
it has a story." 

" A pathetic one," she answered. " Years ago 
the regiments stationed here were decimated 
by some terrible epidemic, — yellow fever, I be- 
lieve. That stone was erected by the survivors 
in memory of their lost comrades." 

" Poor fellows ! " I said, as we drifted by. 
" Do they have yellow fever here ? I did not 
know it. Let 's see — when does the next 
steamer sail ? " 

"You need not be in haste to get away. 
There has n't been a case in nineteen years, 
I am told. But the islands have been ravaged 
several times by that, or something else." 

We floated on down the harbor towards 
Hamilton, the shores becoming more thickly 
settled as we neared the quaint white town. 

" Do you see that tall cedar, in front of that 
long, jalousied, and balconied house?" asked 
Saint Catharine. " That, too, has a story. It 
is the custom here to plant, if one may use the 
expression, a little cedar-tree in the frosting of 
the bride's-cake. The diminutive thing is care- 
fully removed after the cake meets its legiti- 



BERMUDA. 79 

mate fate, and replanted near the dwelling of 
the wedded lovers. Fifty years or so ago, two 
little trees decorated a certain bride's-cake. 
Both were planted afterwards, and they grew 
side by side for half a century. Not long ago 
the bride of that ancient, wedding died, and 
one of the trees fell, too. From its fragrant 
wood her coffin was made. The other waits 
its turn." 

We scarcely heard the dip of the oars, so 
softly and silently we floated onward. " Come 
to think of it," I said, at last, " this must be a 
queer place for a bridal tour. How do they 
manage it ? Do the Hamiltonians go to St. 
George, and the St. Georgians return the com- 
pliment by going to Hamilton ? " 

" I don't know," she answered, laughing. 
"One might put up a tent on one of these 
lovely, uninhabited islands, and so live in sweet 
seclusion. But have n't you seen the rose- 
wreathed ' Honeymoon Cottage,' near Fairy- 
land ? Perhaps that solves the mystery. A 
bridal couple are keeping house for a month 
or two at the Eagle's Nest just now, I believe." 

Nemo and his friends came home at night, 
full of enthusiasm over Chubb's Cut, for which 
place they had put out from Mangrove Bay 
in a little boat of twelve foot keel, with two 
oarsmen. After putting out to sea for about 



8o BERMUDA. 

two miles and a half, a breeze sprang up and 
the smooth sea took on a ruffle. An hour 
passed before they caught glimpses of the 
buoys at the Cut, and met the ocean swell that 
tossed the little boat gloriously. Bermuda was 
but a faint cloud iw the distance, and around 
them was immensity. While they ate their 
lunch, dipping their biscuit in sea-water for a 
relish, the boat drifted nearly to the '* fair-way 
buoy," as it is called, around which the waves 
dashed tumultuously, making the float tug 
fiercely at its chain, and keeping up a strange, 
metallic " clang ! clang ! " which could only be 
compared to the sound of a hoarse and heavy 
bell, struck under water. And then — the 
reefs ! 

I foresaw that night that Chubb's Cut was 
doomed to my hetc noir. I shall see the inner 
reefs with all their marvels of form and color, 
but what of that? I shall never dare to go out 
in that little boat ; and whatever else I may see 
or not see, to the end of my days I shall be 
reminded that I have never seen Chubb's Cut ! 

Query, why is it Chubb's Cut ? 



XI. 

Having done much trampinj^ within a day 
or two, wliat if we were to take a drive to-day, 
— a long one to St. George's ? We can go by 
the North Road, the South Road, or the Middle 
Road. They are all good. But we will take 
the North, returning by the South. The com- 
fortable carriage has seats for four; but we 
look dubiously at the one horse, until we are 
told that on these hard, smooth roads, hewn out 
of the solid rock, one horse will do the work 
of two. It is whispered, also, under the rose, 
that there are not more than four pairs of 
horses, or " double teams," in all Bermuda. 

So off we go, in the cool, clear morning, 
bright with sunshine and odorous with llower 
scents. As we bowl swiftly along, the sea 
sparkles at our left, as if there were a diamond 
in the heart of every sapphire wave. Between 
us and it the slight and graceful tamarisk rises 
like a pale green mist. The Bermudians call 
it the " salt cedar." Taste it, and you get the 
very flavor of the brine. To the right are un- 
dulating hills and sleepy valleys, with pretty 
6 



82 BERMUDA. 

cottages nestling in their green recesses, and 
here and there a stately mansion perched far 
up on some height that commands two ocean 
views. We pass clumps of cedar and thickets 
of the fan-leaved palmetto. The curious, club- 
like paw-paw rises, straight as an arrow, with a 
tuft of leaves at the top, and fruit, looking not 
unlike a great green lemon, growing directly 
from the trunk. The aloe is in bloom, and the 
Spanish bayonet bristles by the wayside. The 
drooping purple flower of the banana and its 
heavy clusters of fruit are in every garden. 
The banana is as omnipresent as the onion. 

Often the road passes for long distances be- 
tween lofty walls of solid rock, from the crev- 
ices of which all lovely growths are springing. 
They are red with the scarlet of the geranium, 
aglow with the orange of the lantana, or they 
are hidden by the purple veil of the wild con- 
volvulus. The dainty sweet-alyssum clings to 
the rock in great patches, and the little rice 
plant lays its pink cheek against it lovingly. 
The prickly-pear clasps its fibrous roots round 
some rough stone, and stretches out an un- 
couth arm to ward you off. But, as if to make 
amends, the loveliest, daintiest ferns smile at 
you, dancing in the wind, and the delicate 
maiden's-hair waves its soft fronds caressingly 
as you go by. Here and everywhere spring 



BERMUDA. 83 

the life-plant and the blue stars of the Bermu- 
diana. The orange is not now in fruit, but on 
many of the lemon-trees the yellow globes are 
hanging like golden lamps. 

A long causeway — a gigantic piece of work, 
massive and strong enough to defy wind and 
water for ages — connects St. George's with the 
mainland. As we approach it a fresh and ex- 
quisite picture meets us at every turn, while 
the views from the causeway itself are surpass- 
ingly fine. It is nearly two miles in length, 
and a revolving bridge gives two wide water 
passages for boats. 

The quaint, picturesque old town, which was 
founded in 16 12, seems to bristle with fortSi 
Indeed, this is true of the whole island range, 
— the Bermudas being, with the exception of 
Gibraltar, England's most strongly fortified 
hold. One not to the manner born cannot help 
wondering why this infinitesimal bit of land in 
the midst of mighty seas should require a fort 
on every exposed point ; why there should be 
batteries and martello towers at every turn, 
and why red-coats and marines should meet 
you at every corner. But it must be remem- 
bered that this is the rendezvous for the British 
fleet in all these waters, and here vast quanti- 
ties of arms and ammunition are stored. Eng- 
land doubtless knows her own business; and 



84 BERMUDA. 

it cannot be questioned that her strong posi- 
tion here would give her an immense advan- 
tage, in case — which may God forbid ! — of 
her ever going to war with America. Indeed, 
on this point Godet says, in his history of Ber- 
muda published in London, i860, " Bermuda, 
conjointly with Halifax, holds in check the 
whole Atlantic coast of the United States, upon 
which nature has bestowed no equivalent for 
naval purposes ; and also controls the West 
Indies, the Gulf of Mexico, and the south 
coasts of the United States. Since the exten- 
sive government works at Bermuda have been 
undertaken, the island is found more con- 
venient, in conjunction with Halifax, as the 
seat of naval power, as it greatly facilitates the 
dispatch of ships to the West India stations 
and the American Atlantic coast." 

Strangers are not allowed inside the forts. 
But we can climb the heights, if we ehoose, 
and see the outside of the show. Or, while we 
are waiting for dinner to be made ready in the 
old-fashioned inn facing the square, where the 
landlord himself will serve you at table, carv- 
ing the joints with his own hand, we can sit on 
the broad veranda overlooking Castle Harbor, 
and try to count the cannon balls stacked, or 
piled, — whatever the orthodox word may be, 
— on the dock of a little island just opposite us. 



BERMUDA, 85 

Tiring of this we can wander about the narrow 
streets, with their odd balconied and jalousied 
houses, and imagine ourselves in the Orient. 
Or we can go to the Public Garden, and sit 
under the shade of date-palms one hundred 
and fifty years old, with a tree called here 
"The Flaming Star," and having great star- 
shaped flowers of a fiery red, in front of us ; 
and at our right another, which rejoices in the 
cognomen of " The Monkey Tree." Why, no 
mortal can tell, unless it is because no monkey 
could by any possibility climb it. The massive 
trunk is thickly set with short, sharp, needle- 
like thorns. 

By what curious law of contrasts was it that 
under these rustling palm-trees, with strange 
sounds in our ears and unaccustomed sights 
before our e3^es, Nemo and I sat for an hour 
and talked, not of the things about us, but of 
influences that had moulded character in a 
home hundreds of miles away, of graves be- 
neath the sod and in the deep, of the living 
that we loved and of the dead that we had not 
forgotten ? 

But we rise at last to look about us. 

Here, in the ivy-covered wall at the left of 
the lower gate, — a dark slab in a niche, — is 
the monument of Sir George Somers, for whom 
the town was named, and in honor of whom 



86 BERMUDA, 

the Bermudas were once known as the Somers 
Islands. Only his heart is buried here. His 
body lies in White Church, Dorsetshire, Eng- 
land. In the wall above the old monument is 
a white marble tablet, erected by Lieutenant- 
General Lefroy, bearing this inscription : — 

Near this spot 

Was interred, in the year 1610, the Heart of the 

Heroic Admiral, 

Sir GEORGE SOMERS, Kt., 

Who nobly sacrificed his Life 

To carry succor 

To the infant and suffering Plantation, 

Now 

The State of Virginia. 

To preserve his Name to Future Ages 

Near the scene of his memorable shipwreck of 

1609, 

The Governor and Commander-in-Chief 

Of this Colony for the time being caused this 

tablet to be erected. 

1876. 

To us Americans, the most remarkable thing 
about the tablet was the modesty of Governor 
Lefroy, who was content, in this inscription 
that will endure for ages, to be known simply 
as the " Commander-in-Chief of this Colony 
for the time being." Certainly there was no 
blowing of his own trumpet here. 

Building's Bay, on the North Shore, is be- 



BERMUDA. 87 

lieved to be the spot where, after the ship- 
wreck, the " heroic admiral " built his two ce- 
dar ships, the Deliverance and the Patience. 
The Deliverance was a ship of eighty tons, 
and the Patience of thirty. There was but one 
bolt of iron used, and that was in the keel of 
the Deliverance ; and the seams of both ves- 
sels were closed with a mixture of lime and oil. 

Perhaps this is a fitting time and place to 
turn our eyes backward for a moment. Ber- 
muda was first discovered in 1522, by Juan Ber- 
mudas, when on a voyage from Old Spain to 
Cuba, with a cargo of hogs. When he caught 
the distant view of the island, which was all he 
had, he kindly concluded to leave behind a few 
of his hogs, that they might take possession 
of the uninhabited island. But a strong gale 
sprang up, and drove him away with his ship 
and his swine. So that was the end of that 
venture. 

In 1543, according to Godet, Ferdinand Ca- 
melo took formal possession of Bermuda, and 
is stated to have cut his name and a rude cross 
on a rock still known as Spanish Rock, on the 
south side of the main island. The place 
remained uninhabited, however, and attracted 
little or no attention until after the shipwreck 
here of Sir George Somers. When he sailed 
for Virginia in his little cedar vessels, on the 



88 BERMUDA. 

loth of Ma}^, 1610, he left two men behind 
to hold possession of the fair isUinds. lie 
reached his destination in thirteen days ; but af- 
ter a short stay in Jamestown again embarked 
in the smaller of his small craft, and set sail 
Bermiidaward, arriving there on the 19th of 
June. Shortly after, he died, overcome by age 
and the great fatigue of his voyages. The few 
colonists, disheartened and alarmed, sailed for 
England with his embalmed body, leaving his 
heart behind as a legacy to the lonely spot that 
for a while bore his name. 

In the Government House Garden at St. 
George's there may still be found a mutilated 
slab of coarse stone, on which is engraved the 
following epitaph, composed by Governor Na- 
thaniel Butler: — 

" In the Yeere 161 1, 
Noble Sir George Somers went hence to Heaven, 
Whose well-tried worth, that held him still imploid, 
Gave him the knowledge of the world so wide, 
Hence, 't was by Heaven's decree, to this place 
He brought new quests and name to mutual grace ; 
At last his soul and body being to part, 
He here bequeathed his entrails and his heart." 

England now made serious attempts to colo- 
nize Bermuda, and succeeded. But as this is 
not a history, we need not bother ourselves 
longer with dates and statistics referring to 
those faraway days. Bermuda had been re- 



BERMUDA. 89 

garded as a "prodigious and enchanted place, 
where no one had ever landed but against his 
will." How completely the tables were turned 
can be best shown by giving the title-page of 
a quaint booklet of perhaps a dozen pages, 
printed in black letter, which the custodian of 
the Public Library at Hamilton exhibits with 
much pride. It bears the imprint "London, 
1G13," and purports to be Sir George's own 
account of his shipwreck and deliverance. 

" A plain Description of the Bermudas, now 
called Somers Islands — with the manner of 
their discoverie, Anno 1609, by the ship-wracke 
& admirable deliverance of Sir Thomas Gates 
& Sir George Somers, 

Wherein are truly set forth the commodities &: 
profits of that Rich, Pleasant, and Healthful 

Countrie, 

With 
An addition, or more ample relation of divers 
other remarkable matters concerning those Isl- 
ands since then experienced, lately sent from 
thence by one of the colonic now there resi- 
dent. 

Ecclesiastes, 3: 11. 

God made everything beautiful in his time. 
London- 
Printed by W. Stansby for W. Wall-jy. 
1613. 



QO BERMUDA. 

To the Reader. 
Good Reader this is the first book published 
to the world touching Somers Islands ; but 
who shall live to see the last? A more full & 
exact description of the countrie & narrative 
of the Nature, site, & commodities, together 
with a true history of the great deliverance of 
Sir Thomas Gates Sz: his companie upon them, 
which was the first discoverer of them, thou 
mayst surely expect, if God will, to come into 
thy hands. This short narrative, in the mean- 
time, shall rather prepare thee for it, than pre- 
vent thee of it." 

Who shall decide when doctors disagree ? 
Even as early as 1613, who discovered Ber- 
muda seems to have been a mooted question. 
But whoever may have been the ostensible 
commander of the expedition for the relief of 
Virginia, there is no doubt that Sir George 
Somers was its ruling spirit, its real leader ; 
and it is interesting to know that Shakespeare 
is said to have found the germ of " The Tem- 
pest " in this curious little book. 

It is but a step from the Public Garden to 
St. Peter's, the oldest church on the islands. 
In the walls are many interesting tablets, and 
the sexton will show you the communion ser- 
vice of massive silver, presented by King Wil- 
liam III. in 1684, and a very old baptismal 



BERMUDA. 91 

bowl, the gift of some local worthy who has 
long been dust and ashes. One of the quaint- 
est and most characteristic tablets is in mem- 
ory of Governor Popple. It is as follows : — 

Died at Bermuda, November 17th, 1744, 
in the 46th year of his age, 
The good Governor 
Aluzed Popple, Esq. 
During the course of his administration which to the in- 
consolable grief of the inhabitants, 
continued but six years, 
of the many strangers who resorted hither for their 
health. 
The observant easily discovered in him. 
Under the graceful veil of modesty, 
An understanding & abilities equal 
To a more important trust. 
The Gay d:' Polite were charmed with the unaffected 
Elegance and amiable simplicity of his manners, 

And ALL were chear'd 

By his hospitality and diffusive benevolence which 

steadily flowed and undisturbed 

from the heart. 

To praise according to his Merit 

The Deceased 

would be but too sensible a reproach 

To the living, 

and to enumerate the many rare virtues which shone 

united on the Governor 

of that little spot 

were to tell how many great talents 

and Excellent Endowments are 

wanting in some 



92 BERMUDA. 

Whom the capriciousness of Fortune 

exposes 

In more elevated and conspicuous stations. 

Alas for poor human nature ! Even in Par- 
adise it cannot raise an altar to its own espe- 
cial favorite, without casting stones at other 
folk. 

To American eyes, its narrow streets and 
oddly shaped houses give St. George's a charm 
that is quite distinctive. York Street is but 
ten feet wide, and, with its gardens crowded 
with semi-tropical vegetation, it is like an ori- 
ental picture. 



XII. 

After our early dinner, as there seemed to 
be ample time to go to St. David's, the only- 
one of the five large islands that is not con- 
nected with the others by a bridge, we hired a 
lame colored man to " row us o'er the ferry." 
St. George's is " beautiful for situation " as 
seen from the water, its wooded heights rising 
tier upon tier, crowned with forts and battle- 
ments, and white walls gleaming in the sun. 
Its aspect is much more foreign and pictu- 
resque than that of Hamilton, strongly remind- 
ing the traveled visitor of Malta. Indeed, so 
much is one impressed by its narrow streets 
and something alien in its atmosphere that he 
inevitably listens for a foreign tongue, and is 
surprised at hearing plain English. 

After a long pull we reached a landing not 
far from the lighthouse, whither we hastened. 
This is by no means as fine an affair as the one 
at Gibbs's Hill, but from its top we gained a 
magnificent view of the clustered islands in the 
harbor, the distant " mainland," the wide, far- 
sweeping ocean, and the white waves dashing 



94 



BERMUDA. 



themselves into spray upon the hidden reefs, 
that are, after all is done, the strongest de- 
fenses of Bermuda. 

St. David's has comparatively few inhabit- 
ants ; and of these few it is said there are 
many who have never dared the perils of the 
deep, and ventured to cross to the other isl- 
ands. Talk of the curiosity of women ! It is 
actually true that there are women, born on St. 
David's island, whose desire to see the world 
and the ways thereof is so slight that they have 
never even beheld the glories of St. George or 
Hamilton. 

It was said a few years ago that many of the 
inhabitants had never seen a horse. A fabu- 
lous story is afloat, however, to the effect that 
now there are two horses on the island — one 
of which is a donkey. 

Time grew short, and we hurried back to the 
landing, where we found that our lame boat- 
man had engaged another man to lend a hand 
at the oars. It was well ; for as we steered 
to westward, skirting the narrows, we met the 
strong ocean swell, that tossed the light boat as 
if it had been but a soap-bubble. The tide was 
ebbing, and we would have surely been swept 
out to sea if the two oarsmen had not pulled 
for dear life, and with all their united strength. 
He who knows nothing fears nothing. We 



BERMUDA. 95 

laughed at the idea of danger, but learned af- 
terwards that our little adventure had not been 
without a spicing of the real, true-blue article. 

" Do you want to go to Jo3-ce's caves ? " 
asked Nemo, as he handed me into the car- 
riage. " I don't know when we shall have a 
better chance." 

" There 's no use making two bites of a 
cherry," I answered. " Let us see them, by all 
means. How many are there, if I may ask ? " 

" Two." 

"One will answer for me, thank you. You 
may do the other while I lie on the grass and 
meditate. But where is the Walsingham cave, 
sacred to the memory of Tom Moore 1 Is n't 
that somewhere about here ? " 

" It 's on the other side, and we will leave 
it for another day. Enough is as good as a 
feast, Lady Mither." 

We leave the carriage, and pick our way for 
some distance through thickets of cedar and 
oleander, with coffee-trees, bamboos, and lem- 
ons interspersed, till we reach the desired ha- 
ven. It proves by no means a haven of rest, 
however, for the descent into the caves is 
rough and precipitous. Yet if you are fond 
of cavernous depths, it pays. Our guide, an 
intelligent colored man, who owns the place, 
lights a bonfire of cedar brush, and the trans- 



96 BERMUDA. 

formation scene begins. The dark, damp, and 
gloomy cavern stretches away through magnif- 
icent distances, and through openings in the 
walls we catch glimpses of other chambers, of 
whose splendors we are content to dream. 
Far above us soars the vaulted roof, hung with 
stalactites, and glittering as with the light of 
countless jewels. Below us lies a lake, clear 
and cold, whereon fairies might launch their 
airy shallops. 

When he who exhibited these wonders found, 
much to his astonishment, that I was not to be 
cajoled into entering the second cave, which — 
as the unseen always is — was far more mar- 
velous than the one I had seen, he beckoned 
to a boy who was leaning on his hoe in a po- 
tato patch hard by, and bade him show the 
lady the jessamines and the shell-flowers. 

The former were the common yellow jessa- 
mines of our Southern States. The shell-flower, 
or shell-plant, as it is called indiscriminately, is 
very curious as well as beautiful, and to give 
an adequate description of it in words is not 
easy. The plant itself is not unlike maize, 
or Indian corn ; and the long, drooping flower- 
cluster which takes the place of the ear is 
sheathed like that in a pale green husk. This 
husk opens in due time, revealing row upon 
row of delicate flowers, each a marvel of loveli- 



BERMUDA, 97 

ness. They are often two inches in length, and 
are at first simply closed bells, softly tinted in 
pink and white, like the lining of a sea-shell. 
Hence the name. But, one by one, they un- 
fold, and lo ! your bell is a monk's-hood, gor- 
geous in gold and crimson. Why do not our 
florists get hold of it ? 

On the way home we stopped for a moment 
at the " Devil's Hole." One .moment was 
quite enough. No rendezvous for gods or 
fairies this, but a natural fish-pond, through 
whose rocky basin, set in a huge cavernous 
chamber, the ocean sends its tide continually. 
The fish, strange creatures called groupers, 
with great sluggish bodies and horribly human 
faces, come crowding up to be fed, and stare 
at us hungrily with their awful e3^es. 

The drive home was charming as soft airs, 
flower-scents, and the sea-breeze could make it. 
The road was hard and smooth. There was 
neither dust nor mud, nor noise to annoy one. 
I leaned back luxuriously among the cushions, 
w^ondering for the thousandth time how gerani- 
ums and lantanas managed, not only to grow, 
but to lavish their wealth of color when fast- 
ened to the bare rocks by perhaps a single 
root. 

" I can't comprehend it," I said. " It is 
natural enough for the cacti ta live without any 
7 



98 BERMUDA. 

visible means of support, but I always supposed 
the geranium needed bread and butter. Do 
look at those gate-posts ! Driver, stop a mo- 
ment, please." 

We were passing a pretty white cottage, in 
front of which was a low, curving wall. The 
stone pillars I had irreverently styled gate-posts 
were square and high, and each was crowned 
with a large Turk's-head cactus, in full growth 
and vigor. 

" Well, that 's a new idea," said I. " Do you 
suppose there is a hole in the post, in which 
the pot is sunken ? Nemo, what if you were 
to get out and see ? " 

" No need of that, lady," said the driver, 
showing his white teeth. " There is n't any pot. 
Turk's-heads, they just grow on the stone." 

" Do you mean to say," I remarked, severely, 
"that those things just sit perched up there on 
top of those posts, and grow, without any earth 
whatever, the whole year round ? " 

" That 's it, lady. They just set there. That 's 
all," and he drove on. 

" What are you smiling at. Lady Mither ? " 
asked Nemo, a moment after. 

" To think of all the sentiment I wasted on 
the hewing out of these roads, when we first 
came," I answered. " But I suppose it was 
quite reasonable for us to think them the prod- 



BERMUDA. 99 

uct of convict labor, cemented by blood and 
tears. It seemed to me that haggard figures, 
with bowed heads and hopeless eyes, lurked in 
every shadow thrown by these massive walls : 
hardened wretches, no doubt, for the most 
part, yet with now and then an innocent man 
among them. Think what his life must have 
been ! " 

" But you need not think about it, now that 
you know the convicts had nothing whatever 
to do with the roads," said Nemo. " So don't 
worry your blessed heart over might - have- 
beens." 

" It would be interesting, though, if one had 
time, to look into the details of convict life. 
There were nine thousand brought here, first 
and last, and two thousand of them died. Boaz 
looks like a very paradise, to-day; but what 
sighs, and groans, and lamentations for home 
and kindred, must have gone up from its green 
shores ! " 

"Now, Lady Mither, let the convicts be," 
expostulated Nemo, " and console yourself with 
those flaming pomegranates. Bermuda is a 
pretty good place to be exiled to ; and the 
chances are that most of the poor fellows were 
as well off here as they had ever been else- 
where. Besides, you forget what rascals they 
undoubtedly were, most of them." 



100 BERMUDA, 

" Do you suppose that made it any easier, — 
to know it was all their own fault ? I don't ! 
But I am glad they are not here now, just or 
unjust. I wonder what these straight, narrow 
cross-roads, running for the most part east and 
west, are ? They are hardly wider than a coun- 
try lane, or footpath. There 's one, now." 

"That's a 'tribe road,' lady," said the 
driver. 

" And what may that be? " 

He shook his head. " I always heard them 
called so," he said. "I don't just know the 
reason. There used to be 'tribes ' here." 

" Districts, or divisions, something after the 
nature of parishes, I fancy," explained Nemo, 
" into which, as I have heard, the mainland was 
divided when the island was first surveyed. 
Perhaps these ' tribe roads ' were boundary 
lines. But we are almost home. Shall we 
drive round the harbor and say good-night to 
your palm-trees 1 " 

How quickly we learn to claim as our own 
that in which we delight ! 

There are no more striking objects in all 
Bermuda than the group of five Royal Palms, 
brought from Grenada fifty years ago. One 
needs to stand directly beneath them, and to 
let the eye follow the straight, columnar shafts 
as they shoot upward into the clear ether, and 



BERMUDA. 1 01 

lay their fronded heads against the tender blue 
of the sky, before he can fully take in all their 
grandeur. There is another fine palm, of the 
same royal race, at Woodlands. 

For variety that evening we were shown a 
huge specimen of the cuttle-fish, captured that 
day by a Boston clergyman, who, it was quite 
evident, had by no means renounced the devil 
and all his works. One glimpse of the creature, 
horribly repulsive as it was, was enough to in- 
sure the nightmare. 



XIII. 

All the Arabian Nights' tales ever told had 
paled before Nemo's story of the fairy gardens 
of the underworld at Chubb's Cut. How, then, 
could I hope for peace of mind until I had at 
least beheld the glories of the inner reefs ? 

For, after all, the chief attraction of Bermuda 
is in her iridescent waters and what lies beneath 
them. At nine of the clock, one morning, Wil- 
liams, a bronze Hercules, low voiced, gentle 
mannered, a trusty boatman, and an enthusiast 
in his calling, meets us at the dock, with his 
water-glasses, nippers, and all else needed for 
a successful trip to the reefs. But our first 
objective point is Ireland Island ; and to gain 
time we embark on the Moondyne, — a pleasant 
party of five, with lunch baskets and the ever- 
present waterproofs and umbrellas. Towing 
our row-boat, away we glide down the beautiful 
sunlit bay, winding our way in and out among 
the fairy islands of the Great Sound, after a 
fashion strikingly like the passage through the 
Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence. Passing 
the lovely shores of Somerset and Boaz, which 



BERMUDA. 103 

last was formerly the convict station, we get 
good views of the naval and military hospitals, 
with their broad balconies and shaded grounds. 
At Ireland Island is her majesty's dockyard, 
with forts and batteries, all alive with soldiers, 
marines, and busy workmen. Several men-of- 
war, with a multitude of smaller craft, are at 
anchor in Grassy Bay, and the admiral's ship, 
the Northampton, is lying in the great floating 
dock, Bermuda, for repairs. This enormous 
structure, said to be the largest of its kind in 
the world, was towed over from England in 
1868. To naval, military, and business men 
this is a most attractive spot, but so much red 
tape must be untied before one can enter the 
dockyard that we content ourselves with an 
outside view, and walk across the island to the 
cemetery. Here, within sound of the moaning 
sea and the fierce guns of the forts, all is as 
peaceful and serene as in any country grave- 
yard in New England. Trees wave, flowers 
bloom, bright-winged birds flit from palm to 
cedar, and great masses of the scarlet heath 
burn in the soft, cool light. 

But we are most impressed by the records of 
sudden and violent deaths ; for here we find 
inscriptions instead of the conventional num- 
ber. " Killed by a fall from the masthead of 
H. M. ship Daylight." " Drowned off Spanish 



104 BERMUDA. 

Rock." " Died suddenly, a victim to yellow 
fever." " Erected by his messmates to the 
memory of , who died at sea." So the in- 
scriptions ran. Man)^ of the epitaphs were cu- 
rious, but all were to me indescribably pathetic. 
Here are two or three of them : — 

" God's finger touched him, and he slept." 

The following I found on an old stone, gram- 
mar and all : — 

*' Its age nor youth, nor wealth cannot withstand 
Or shun the power of Death's impartial hand. 
Life is a cobweb, be it ere so gay, 
And Death the broom that sweeps us all away." 



*' Sacred to the Memory of 
Samuel Gillam, 
Late Boatswain's mate of the Ship Belvedere, who was 
accidentally killed by the sheave of the foremast, on the 
17th June, 1836, leaving a widow and four children to 
lament their loss. 

Tho' Boreas' blasts and Neptune's waves. 

Have tossed me to and fro. 
Yet I at last, by God's decree. 

Do harbor here below, 
Where at an anchor I do ride 

"With many of our fleet ; 
Once more again I must set sail 
My Saviour, Christ, to meet." 

Some civilians are buried here, and many 
little c'v.ldren ; and I came upon a pathetic 



BERMUDA. 105 

memorial to a fair young English wife, who fol- 
lowed her soldier husband hither -only to give 
birth to a little child and die on these far-off 
shores. But for the most part the sleepers in 
this beautiful God's acre are strong and stal- 
wart men, cut off in the flower of their days. 

We lunch in the delicious shade, with the 
sea at our feet and a bright-eyed, swift-footed 
little mulatto boy for our Ganymede. Then 
we row along the coast and through the nar- 
rows to the dockyard harbor, bound for the 
reefs. 

As we round the point there is a sudden 
gathering of the clans and the swell of mar- 
tial music. Hundreds of soldiers swarm upon 
the piers and sailors cling to every masthead. 
Apparently something exciting is going on. 
The band strikes up " Home, Sweet Home," 
and the good ship Humber steams out, with 
all sails set, bound for England, and crowded 
from stem to stern. She takes home a regi- 
ment whose term of service has expired. A 
storm of cheers bursts from the comrades they 
are leaving behind, answered by shouts and 
hurrahs from the happy fellows on board. 
They scramble up the tall masts, and far out 
on the yardarms ; they cling to the shrouds, 
waving their caps and shouting themselves 
hoarse, as the band plays "The Girl I left Be- 



I06 BERMUDA. 

hind Me," One agile fellow stands on the very 
top of the tallest mast, his figure in bold re- 
lief against the blue of the sky. As the ship 
passes the near buoys "Auld Lang Syne" 
floats plaintively over the deep, and the men 
on the dock turn soberly, perhaps sadly, to the 
monotonous routine of duties. 

Williams picks up his oars, and we are soon 
far out among the reefs. It is so still and clear 
that a water-glass is scarcely needed. With- 
out its aid we can look far down, down, into 
the azure and amber depths, so translucent, so 
pure, that the minutest object is distinctly vis- 
ible. What marvelous growths, what wonder- 
ful creations ! Is this a submerged flower- 
garden ? Great sea-fans wave their purple 
branches, swaying to the swell as pine-boughs 
sway to the breeze. Magnificent sprays of 
star-coral — some as fine and delicate as lace- 
work, and so frail that it would be impossible 
to remove them from their bed, and some like 
the strong antlers of some forest monarch — 
grow upon the sides of the deep sea moun- 
tains. Here the shelf-coral hangs from the 
rocks like an inverted mushroom, delicately 
wrought, and the rose-coral unfolds like a fairy 
flower. There lie great brainstones, another 
variety of coral, with their singular convolu- 
tions, side by side with finger-sponges, tall, 



BERMUDA. 107 

brown, branching sea-rods, sea-cucumbers, and 
many another wonder. There are star-fish, 
sea - urchins, and sea - anemones, — gorgeous 
creatures in ashes of rose and orange, or in 
pink and brown witli dashes of yellow, and a 
flutter of white ruffles that unfold as you gaze, 
like the opening of a flower-bud. And in and 
around and about them all glide the blue an- 
gel fish, with their fins just tipped with gold, 
yellow canary fish, the zebra-striped sergeant 
majors^ and a ruby-colored fish that gleams in 
the water like a ray of light. 

We gather fans and corals ; we exhaust our 
vocabularies in expressions of delight j and 
then in the soft glow of sunset, while the shores 
are bathed in rosy mist, and each little island 
is an emerald or an amethyst set in silver, and 
the far lighthouse towers above them all like a 
watchful sentinel, we half row, half float, home- 
ward with the tide, silent, tired, but happy. 

Yet two of the party said, " Yes, this was all 
very fine. But if you could only see the reefs 
at Chubb's Cut ! " 



XIV. 

It rained that night, and in the morning 
there was a chill north wind, putting a damper 
upon a pleasant plan of ours. We had meant 
to take a long, delightful ten-mile drive to 
Sandys — most of the way by the blue, blue 
sea — and attend church there. For it was 
Sunday again. But as it was, we chose to sit 
with closed door and windows and read Emer- 
son instead. Every five minutes, however, one 
or the other of us stepped out on the balcony 
to see if the pennant flying at Mount Langton 
bore witness that the mail steamer was sig- 
naled. 

Flags talk in Bermuda after a most bewilder- 
ing fashion. They give you all kinds of infor- 
mation if you are only quick-witted enough to 
take it in : when it is church time, and when 
it is noon ; when an unknown ship is in sight ; 
when the mails will close ; when they go out, 
and when they come in ; when a boat is wanted 
at Mount Langton ; when there is a vessel on 
the rocks ; when the Pioneer will call af the 
"Ducking Stool," — whatever that maybe, — 



BERMUDA. 109 

and when it will not call. There is no end to 
the signals ; but it would take a lifetime and 
the patience of Job to master their language. 

In the afternoon the sun came out j earth, 
air, sea, and sky wooed us as entrancingly as 
ever, and Bermuda was her fair, sweet self 
again. Out-of-doors was far better than in- 
doors, and we started out for a purposeless 
stroll, not caring whither we went. Not far 
from our lodgings, a path led into a pretty, 
secluded grove. What better time to explore 
it? 

It developed erelong into, something very 
like a smooth wood-road in Vermont. The 
air was sweet with the faint odor of the ferns 
and the aromatic breath of the cedars. Not a 
sound was to be heard but the low warbling of 
a bird. 

" Are we really in Bermuda ? " asked Nemo. 
" I half believe we are at home, taking a stroll 
up beyond the Quarter-line. We shall come, 
pretty soon, to the old oak with the hole in it, 
where Fred hid my cane last summer." 

But we did not, though we passed several 
unproductive " quarries," that were familiar in 
name if not in appearance. Instead of the oak 
we found a grove of palm-trees and a wild 
growth of orange and lemon trees, and instead 
of the shy arbutus the drooping bells of the 



no BERMUDA. 

life-plant. The golden-rod was there, lifting 
its yellow plumes in the April sunshine. How 
out of place it looked ! We longed for tender 
blue violets instead, or fair, spring-like hepat- 
icas. It made us wonder if one would not tire 
after a while of perpetual summer-time, — even 
of roses and lilies and soft sunlit skies, charm- 
ing as they all were in contrast with the long 
winter from which we had fled. Beautiful Ber- 
muda can never know what spring is, — the joy 
of the awakening earth, the miracle of the new 
creation. She has much that we have not; but 
she can never have the green splendor of wide- 
spreading elms, or oaks, or maples, the glory 
of autumnal foliage, or the white wonder of the 
snow. 

At last, as we .strolled on, we caught a 
glimpse of the sea, and came out into the road 
near Mr. Trott's garden, famous for its lilies. 
There were thousands of the great white chal- 
ices, each upheld by its slender shaft of emer- 
ald, and " filled to faintness with perfume." 

While Nemo went on down to the shore, to 
reconnoitre, I stopped to speak to a colored 
woman, who led by the hand a wee atom of a 
girl, the tiniest creature that ever walked on 
two feet. She was like a little bronze statuette ; 
only bronzes do not break into soft, dimpling 
laughter when they are spoken to, nor mantle 



BERMUDA. 1 1 1 

with pink flushes under their golden browns. 
As I stooped to bring my tall self a little nearer 
to her level, she smoothed down her white 
dress, gave me her mite of a hand, smiling in 
the friendliest fashion, and informed me that 
her name was Lily. This sixteen months old 
baby could hardly be expected to have any be- 
havior, good or bad ; but it is true that as a 
rule the colored children are exceptionally well 
behaved, and many of them are very pretty. 

Nemo reported nothing of special interest 
farther on. So, turning back, we struck a path 
that apparently led to our beloved Serpentine, 
and concluded to venture it. Straiter and 
steeper grew the way, till it culminated in two 
or three flights of stone steps, up which we 
clambered wearily, to find ourselves in a wide 
expanse of pasture land, and no road in sight. 

When, after devious wanderings, we struck 
the Serpentine, it was at a point a mile from 
home. 

Tired ? Well — rather ! 

" But, for a woman who could n't walk when 
she came to Bermuda, it seems to me you are 
doing pretty well, Lady Mither," said Nemo j 
and I agreed with him, even if it was true that 
on the morrow the spirit did not move me to 
herculean tasks. 

And so the weeks went on. "Bermuda is 



112 BERMUDA. 

dull, Bermuda is slow," said some one, now 
and then. " It is so quiet here, and there is 
nothing going on." 

" There is not even anything to dress for," 
was sometimes said j and it must be confessed 
this was a trial to Miss Flora MacFlimsey, who 
remarked dolefully that she had such lovely 
white dresses, all puffs and laces and embroid- 
eries, in her trunk, and it was n-ot warm enough 
to wear them, whereas at Nassau, etc., etc., etc. 

But the days flew too fast for most of us. 
Whether we walked, or rode, or sailed, or sim- 
ply sat in sun or shade and vegetated, there 
was nothing to regret save that the day was 
drawing near when we must strike our tents 
and steal away. 

One morning Nemo and the Colonel pro- 
posed a trip that was quite beyond my powers. 
"Run away," I said, "and make a long day of 
it, and a hard one if you please. But the little 
brunette and I are going to Camp Warwick 
this afternoon." 

We started after lunch. 

"We shall strike the military road after a 
little," said the brunette. 

This sounded well ; and as it was probable 
that military roads were far superior to civil 
roads, I waited the event with much interest, 
only to find myself on the very worst road I 



BERMUDA. 113 

had yet traversed in Bermuda. Our objective 
point was the beach opposite Camp Warwick, 
— a beach with high, overhanging cUffs jutting 
out into the sea. 

When we left the carriage, to go down to the 
shore, gleams of scarlet and the flash of bay- 
onets led our eyes to a rock on which were 
clustered a dozen red-coats and as many mu- 
sicians, their brass instruments glittering in the 
sun. 

" Something is going on," said my compan- 
ion. " They are getting ready to fire. Do you 
dare venture down ? " 

But just then a young lieutenant approached, 
with grave salute, and, telling us that target 
practice was about to begin, begged permission 
to place us where we could see the firing and 
yet be out of harm's way. 

It is needless to say we stayed not on the 
order of our going, but followed him with all 
speed. 

" There is nothing new under the sun," I 
said, after he left us to rejoin his men. " But 
this is really a novel situation for two New 
England women. Here we are on this dot of 
an island in mid-ocean, perched on a coral 
cliff, and watching the soldiers of Old England 
as they learn to fight her battles." 

"Ping! ping! ping!" went the rifles j; and 
8 



1 14 BERMUDA. 

" Boom ! boom ! boom ! " answered the waves, 
as they beat upon the rocks below us. 

We cUmbed down to the beach after we had 
watched the soldiers long enough, — a beauti- 
ful white beach, composed entirely of shells and 
coral ground fine by the action of the waves. 
I filled my handkerchief with the de'bris, which 
had not the slightest intermixture of sand or 
soil ; but not one unbroken shell could we find. 
Nemo and the Colonel returned to a late 
dinner, with reports of a delightful day under 
Pilot Scott's guidance. He had taken them 
round Somerset, through Sandys Narrows into^ 
the Great Sound, and from thence to Boaz in 
time to catch the Moondyne on her return 
trip. This course led them to Daniel's Head, 
where they found a ruined fortification of 
two hundred years ago ; and to Elie's Harbor, 
where they landed at Whale Island, and ate 
their lunch in the lee of the ruined ovens, or 
boilers, which were formerly used for trying 
out blubber. 

" Did you go to Basset's cave ? " 

" Certainly," said the Colonel. " What pair 
of adventurous spirits could go out for a day in 
Bermuda without entering the bowels of the 
earth on one pretext or another ? But for 
which reasons I have been unable to discover, 
few people visit Basset's cave, although it is 



BERMUDA. 115 

quite as picturesque and beautiful as the Wal- 
singham, which everybody goes to see." 

" You may as well tell us about it," said I, 
" for I 'm not going there, — neitiier is Saint 
Catherine. We are not over-fond of under- 
ground passages." 

" Then why should you hear about them ? 
But Pilot Scott rowed us to the shore, and, led 
by a little negro boy, we came to a rocky open- 
ing in the side of a low hill. Lighting candles, 
we crept slowly in, clambered down steep path- 
ways which were damp and slippery, and soon 
came to a little underground lake. Here we 
set fire to a pile of cedar boughs which our 
small guide had gathered, and the bright flames 
lit up the water and the dark recesses of the 
cave. Stalactites hanging from the ceiling and 
stalagmites rising from the floor glistened in 
the unusual light, and the clear emerald water 
of the little lake — salt sea-water which falls 
and rises with the tide — seemed to be a great 
jewel in a setting of coral. It was too slippery 
to venture further, and when the boughs had 
all been burned we climbed out into the sun- 
shine again. That was all there was of it. 
Nothing very dreadful, you perceive ; but we 
did not see so much as the ghost of a water 
nymph or a peri." 

" I don't know a great deal about caves," re- 



Il6 BERMUDA. 

marked one of the ladies, " and I have n't been 
into one of them. But I would like to ask if 
it is impossible to have a cave without a lake ? 
That same ' little lake ' that the Colonel speaks 
of has figured in every cavern I have heard of 
yet. Hear this, will you ! " and with a laugh- 
ing glance at a gentleman who was absorbed 
in a game of whist at a table opposite, she 
drew a letter from her pocket. " I did n't 
write it, but it is a description of the Walsing- 
ham cave, and it goes to New York by the 
Oronoco next Thursday. Now see if they 
are not as much alike as two peas. No, 
George, go on with your whist," she added, 
shaking her head at the gentleman, who half 
rose from his chair. " I can manage this busi- 
ness myself. I '11 skip the preliminaries." And 
she read, — 

" The Walsingham caves, which I men- 
tioned above, lie near the quaint white town 
of St. George's, and are entered from the 
side of a little hill. The rude stairs, hollowed 
out of the coral rock, wind about in many di- 
rections, and the entrance is very narrow. 
When the visitor has descended fifteen or 
twenty feet, -however, he finds himself in a 
room of peculiar beauty. The walls are hung 
with stalactites, and in the centre of the cham- 
ber is a lake of emerald water, which sparkles 



BERMUDA. \\J 

in the light of blazing cedar boughs, while the 
drops which fall from the ragged ceiling tinkle 
musically upon the rocks and water below. A 
cool, delicious air fills the cave, and the silence 
of the place is so intense that the quiet groves 
seem filled with humming noises when one 
climbs to the face of the earth again ; and the 
sunshine is marvelously bright, even in the 
shade of the ancient calabash which guards the 
forbidding entrance." 

"There it is, you see," she went on, laugh- 
ingly, as she refolded the letter and slipped it 
into its envelope : " little hill, little lake, emer- 
ald water, cedar boughs, and all. They 're all 
alike, and why you gentlemen find them so in- 
teresting that you must needs creep — no, 
crawl — into every one of them passes my 
comprehension. I 'd rather have one square 
yard of her blue sky than all the subterranean 
depths in Bermuda." 

" Which is conclusive," retorted the cour- 
teous Colonel, bowing serenely ; " especially 
when you acknowledge that you have not seen 
one of these same depths. I maintain that the 
descriptions are not alike, inasmuch as I said 
nothing whatever about ' delicious air,' ' in- 
tense silence,' 'tinkling drops,' nor 'ancient 
calabashes.' They were not to be found in my 
cave — unless it may have been the silence." 



XV. 

It would be impossible to tell of all the 
pleasant excursions that gave light and color 
to our Bermudian days. One morning we 
drove to Tucker's Town, — about seven miles, 
— and there hired a whale-boat and three stout 
oarsmen for the day, that we might explore 
Castle Harbor and its surroundings. With a 
single square -sail set, we bounded over the 
light waves toward Castle Island, but after 
beating about for a little while made a landing 
at the extreme point of the mainland, that the 
gentlemen might visit a cave called the Queen's . 
White Hall. The Point is uninhabited, and 
never a sound could be heard except the husky 
murmur of the slow waves as they breasted the 
rocks or rolled in upon the seaward beach. 

The ladies, meanwhile, climbed the high 
cliffs, to watch the breakers afar off and wait 
for their escorts. Suddenly there was a rush, 
a whirr of wings, laughter, and a call to us, — 
and down we went. 

The lighting of a bit of magnesium wire 
had disclosed a boatswain bird on its nest. 



BERMUDA. 119 

Blinded by the sudden glare, it had given one 
fearful cry ere it was caught and brought out 
for our inspection. The boatswain is a beauti- 
ful white creature, of the gull family, with two 
long feathers in its tail, by means of which it 
is popularly supposed to steer its flight ; hence 
the name. When we let it go, it flew far out to 
sea. But we were scarcely in the boat again 
when we saw it circling and wheeling far above 
our heads, only waiting till we strange intrud- 
ers should be gone before returning to its nest. 

" Now you are down here, ladies," said the 
Colonel, " you ought surely to enter Her Maj- 
esty's White Hall. You'll never have another 
chance ; and this is really a cavern without a 
lake." 

How we crept in through the narrow en- 
trance I shall never try to tell. But the pas- 
sage grew wider as we followed the winding 
way, and when our eyes became accustomed to 
the darkness we could see that the floor was 
hard white sand, and that small stalactites hung 
from the narrow roof above us. It is not a 
large cave, but is weird and strange. Though 
we were less than fifty feet from the door the 
waves w^ere no longer heard. How still it was ! 
— so still that our footfalls on the smooth sand 
seemed loud and harsh. 

Having set sail again, we made for Castle 



120 BERMUDA. 

Island. Steep stairs cut in the rocks led us to 
a broad plateau bordered by ruined fortifica- 
tions, massive structures which were built early 
in the seventeenth century, when the Spanish 
buccaneers made constant raids upon Ber- 
muda. In fact, the pirates once held Castle 
Island, and we walked over the paths their 
feet had worn nearly three hundred years ago. 
Afterwards the castle was for a time the seat of 
government. The massive walls of fort and 
castle, full ten feet thick, seem as if they might 
stand forever. 

Climbing up into one of the deep embrasures, 
with the lonely sea before me and the silent 
court behind, I tried to imagine the scene as it 
was when gay with red-coats and gold-laced offi- 
cers, with their powdered wigs, their queues, 
their queer cocked hats, and all the pomp and 
pageantry of glorious war. Far down on the 
beach below me lay a rusty cannon, half buried 
in the sand. Doubtless from the very spot 
where I stood it had belched forth its thunders 
at the approaching pirate- fleets. 

We lunched in the gray old court, sitting on 
a low stone seat whereon, it was easy to be- 
lieve, many a brave soldier and many a fair 
lady had whispered sweet secrets, long ago. 
Names were carved in the rocks and on the 
walls, the numbers of many regiments — some 



BERMUDA. 121 

famous in English annals — appearing over 
and over again. The remains of the old ovens 
were still there, and chimneys blackened by 
the smoke of fires so long gone out. 

In the old Government House there is a 
hall, floorless and windowless now, where many 
a Bermuda girl danced and was made love to 
by the gay gallants of other days. For Ber- 
muda has always been gay, — gayer, they say, 
in the past than it is now. So long ago as 
when our Puritan fathers were struggling with 
cold, with savages, and with all the hardships 
and privations of early New England life, Ber- 
muda was sitting in the sun and smiling as se- 
renely as to-day. The traditions there are not 
of spinning and weaving, of hard-won comforts, 
of serious endeavor, of Indian fights and cruel 
massacres, but of gay fetes and brilliant mas- 
querades, of happy competence and careless 
ease. The old ladies of to-day show you the 
fine dresses, the laces and ornaments, that 
their great-grandmothers wore when they, the 
great-grandmothers, were young. 

Setting sail again, we swept through the 
great harbor, passing Nonsuch and Cooper 
islands and rounding St. David's Head, a mag- 
nificent promontory, against which the sea 
beat itself to foam. The wind was high ; we 
were in the open sea, and the boat was tossed 



122 BERMUDA. 

like a feather by the great waves that came 
rolling in from beyond the reefs. The head- 
lands of St. David's are precipitous cliffs, with 
deep bays and curious indented caves. One 
of them is called Cupid's Oven, — a most 
maladroit name, for the little god would be 
frightened out of his wits by the mere sight of 
the dark, uncanny hole. Elsewhere a door is 
cut in the high ocean wall. Does it lead down 
to Hades ? 

We entered the narrows just beyond the 
island, and the oarsmen, the sail being lowered, 
pulled along the coast to St. George's. Here 
our carriages were in waiting, and we drove 
home by the way of Moore's Calabash Tree, in 
a dark, secluded glen. The poet, it is said, 
was wont to sit here and sing of the charms of 
Bermudian girls. 

A gay deceiver he ; for while writing love- 
songs to " Nea," the " Rose of the Isles," and 
praising her beauty and her grace, he writes 
to his mother thus : — 

" These little Bermuda islands form cer- 
tainly one of the prettiest and most romantic 
spots that I could ever have imagined, and the 
descriptions which represent it as a place of 
fairy enchantment are very little beyond the 
truth. From my window, now as I write, I can 
see five or six different islands, the piost dis- 



BERMUDA. 123 

tant not a mile from the others. They are 
covered with cedar groves, through the vistas 
of which you catch a few pretty white houses, 
which my practical shortsightedness always 
transforms into temples ; and I often expect to 
see nymphs and graces come tripping from 
them, when to my great disappointment I find 
that a few miserable negroes are all the ' bloomy 
flush of life ' it has to boast of. Indeed, you 
must not be surprised, dear mother, if I fall in 
love with the first pretty face I see on my re- 
turn home ; for certainly the human face divine 
has degenerated wonderfully in these countries, 
and if I were a painter and wished to preserve 
my ideas of beauty immaculate, I would not 
suffer the brightest belle of Bermuda to be my 
housemaid." 

Why will people preserve their old letters ? 

Moore was appointed " Registrar to the Ad- 
miralty in Bermuda " in 1803. He came to 
the islands that same year, but returned in 
1804, leaving a deputy to discharge the duties 
of the office. In relation to this, he writes to 
the same correspondent: — 

..." I shall tell you at once that it is not 
worth my while to remain here. ... I acquit 
those who persuaded me to come. They did 
not know about the situation. Am not sorry 
I came. The appointment is respectable, and 



124 BERMUDA. 

a valuable step to future preferment. The Ber- 
muda court has few causes referred to it, and 
even a Spanish war would not make my income 
by any means worth staying for. However, 
there are two American ships for trial. I have 
been bettered by acquiring knowledge of men 
and affairs, and by roughing it. Hope you and 
' darling father ' won't feel disappointed at the 
damp our expectations have experienced. . . . 
How I shall enjoy dear Katie's playing when I 
return ! The jingle they make here upon things 
they call piano-fortes is, oh ! insupportable. 
. . . Your own, own, affectionate T. M." 

His next letter, dated January 24, 1804, is 
sent by way of the West Indies, and announces 
that he expects to sail for England in May or 
June. It reiterates his dislike of the place. 
" It is now nearly twelve o'clock. I have just 
returned from a grand turtle feast, and am full 
of calipash and madeira." 

Under date of February it, he complains 
that he had not heard from home, by letter or 
newspaper, for five months, and still harps 
upon the poor position and the Spanish war 
But, he adds, " It is impossible to be ill in such 
a climate. Roses are in full bloom here now, 
and my favorite green peas smoke every day 
upon the table. ... I have been very fortu- 
nate here (as indeed Providence seems to 



BERMUDA. 125 

please I should be everywhere) in conciHat- 
ing friendship and interesting those around 
me in my welfare. The admiral, Sir Andrew 
Mitchell, has insisted upon my making his 
table my own during my stay here, and has 
promised to take me in his ship to America 
for the purpose of getting a passage to Eng- 
land, — there being no direct conveyance from 
this corner thither. . . . They threaten me 
here with impeachment, as being in a fair way 
to make bankrupts of the whole island. There 
has been nothing but gayety since I came, and 
there was never such a furor of dissipation 
known in the town of St. George's before. 
The music parties did not keep long up, be- 
cause they found they were obliged to trust to 
me for their whole orchestra; but the dances 
have been innumerable, and still continue with 
great spirit indeed. The women dance in gen- 
eral extremely well, though, like Dogberry's 
' writing and reading,' it comes by nature to 
them, for they never have any instruction ex- 
cept when some flying dancing-master, by the 
kindness of fortune, happens to be wrecked 
and driven ashore on the island. Poor things ! 
I have real pity for them." 

Dancing, feasting, making love to the girls 
for whom he had such pity, bewailing his fate, 
and talking about a war with Spain, which he 



126 BE 2^ MUD A. 

seems to have desired above all things, varied 
by fits of enthusiasm over the wonderful color- 
ing of the Bermudian seas, his days went on, 
until he writes from New York under date of 
May 7, 1804 : — 

" Here I am after a passage of nine da3^s 
from Bermuda, never better, and novelty keeps 
me in bustle. Such a place ! such a people ! 
Barren and secluded as poor Bermuda is, I 
think it a Paradise to any spot in America I 
have ever seen." 

The mercurial poet seems to have been 
rather hard to suit. 

To go back for one moment to our day's ex* 
cursion. In the long, and for our men hard, 
trip, we did not hear from them one loud word, 
much less an oath. The captain, a handsome 
young negro, gave his orders by a look, a word, 
a sign, and was obeyed as quietly. 



XVI. 

Her Majesty does not provide for her rep- 
resentatives in Bermuda very luxurious or ele- 
gant mansions. Neither Mount Langton, the 
Government House as it is called, nor Clar- 
ance Hill, the Admiralty House, are fine build- 
ings. Indeed, they are quite the opposite. But 
both places are beautifully situated, with fine 
grounds and extensive gardens ; and what does 
it matter if the house be fine or otherwise, 
when one lives out-of-doors ? The bougainvil- 
lea or bourgajtvillier — thQ name of the vine 
was spelled for me in both ways by those who 
were supposed to know how — that covers the 
thirty-foot wall of the long avenue leading to 
the Government House with a glory of crimson 
bloom such as no words can paint is enough 
in itself to compensate for many lacks in draw- 
ing-room and boudoir. 

Invitations came one day. " Mrs. Gallway 
^ At home — Saturday, April 21, from three to 
six." To this were added the cabalistic words 
"Lawn Tennis." 

Would we go ? Of course we would, if only 



128 BERMUDA. 

for the sake of having another look at that 
vme, and at the large lemon-tree whose golden 
lamps were a perpetual marvel. 

A somewhat stately "gentleman in black" 
awaited us at the portal of the low, rambling 
yellow house that rejoices in the name of 
Mount Langton, took our cards, and piloted us 
through the mazes of the grounds to the great 
lawn, where Mrs. Gallway and her daugliters 
were " receiving." A fine regimental band dis- 
coursed eloquent music from a wooded hill 
at our left. Below us \vere the tennis courts, 
where the gay combatants were already at war. 
Clumps of palms, cedars, and pride-of-India 
trees gave an abundance of pleasant shade; 
and beneath were tables spread with dainty 
fare and gay with fruits and flowers, for such 
as 'did not care to go to the house for afternoon 
tea. Mrs. Gallway, a pale little lady in black, 
with a gentle, refined face, received her guests 
with simple courtesy ; but being in frail health 
she soon disappeared, leaving them to their 
own devices. 

It was a pretty sight, the uniforms of the 
officers, the black coats of the civilians, and 
the light dresses of the ladies mingling in 
happy contrast, while the swift-footed tennis 
players kept up a changeful kaleidoscopic stir 
of light and color. Rustic seats in abundance 



BERMUDA. 129 

gave opportunity for rest and pleasant chat- 
tings. 

"There are many pretty girls in this little 
island," I remarked to a Bermudian lady; my 
eye wandering from one graceful group to an- 
other, and my mind reverting to Tom Moore's 
disparaging judgment. But she answered, v.ith 
a smile, — 

" Indeed, all the really pretty girls you see 
here are Americans. We lose our good looks 
very young. We lose our complexions. But 
the American girls are beautiful, and they have 
such charming manners." 

I bowed my acknowledgments for this com- 
pliment to my young countrywomen. 

" But why is it ? " I asked, replying to what 
she had said of her own. " Not that I admit 
the truth of your assertion ; but allowing that 
it is true, how do you explain it ? " 

" In many ways," she answered. " It is 
owing to the saltness of the air, no doubt, and 
to the sun, and the white roads. Then we live 
on the water. We are at sea always in Ber- 
muda ; and you know how even a voyage across 
the Atlantic darkens one. Our voyage lasts 
forever." 

" I have discovered one thing," I said, glanc- 
ing at a group of young girls whose rebellious 
tresses were flying in the wind, and tucking a 
9 



I30 BERMUDA. 

Straightened lock of my own behind my veil. 
" Whatever else women can do in Bermuda, 
they can't keep their hair in crimp. But they 
can wear fresh roses all the year round, which 
is far better." 

Just then the rising wind soughed and sighed 
through the palms and cedars, increasing in 
strength until we older folk were fain to seek 
the shelter of the broad verandas, and refresh 
ourselves with tea and sponge cakes. Who 
won the games that day I never knew. 

Not long after this, half a dozen persons, 
three of whom at least were not in a very hi- 
larious mood, were waiting on the dock with 
wraps and waterproofs. A sail-boat was mak- 
ing its swift way towards them. 

" Is everything packed ? " asked one of the 
party. " Are you all ready ? " 

" Everything," was the answer, — " shells, 
corals, sea-fans, palmetto work, cedar boxes, 
charcoal sketches, and all. We are ready for 
the flitting, having determined long ago that 
sink or swim, survive or perish, we would 
leave this afternoon free for our last sail. But 
here comes the boat. This is your water- 
proof, Hetty. Careful now, Miss Alice. There 
you are ! Mrs. Blank, you will need your sun 
umbrella. Hold on a minute, skipper, till I get 
that basket." 



BERMUDA. ' 131 

** This is a curious arrangement," said Nemo, 
looking about him critically. " We have been 
in row-boats, whale-boats, flat-boats, ferry-boats, 
open yachts, and steam-tugs, to say nothing of 
steam-ships. But, Lady Mither, this is cer- 
tainly the very first time that you and I ever 
went to sea in a tub." 

" Like the three wise men of Gotham," 
quoth I. " Only their tub was a bowl. But do 
you mean to say I have got to get into that — 
I don't know what to call it — that square ori- 
fice in the middle ? " 

" Certainly, Lady Mither. That 's the cabin. 
The thing is what they call ' flush-decked,' and 
it has no gunwale. You can sit on the roof if 
you please, but as there is a good stiff wind 
you '11 be more comfortable down here." 

He gave me his hand, and I descended a 
flight of steep steps into the little cabin. The 
six — no, eight — of us filled it completely; and 
as we stood in a clustered group, the heads only, 
of the shorter ones, the heads and shoulders 
of the taller, were above board. We were lit- 
erally in a deep tub with sails. But the 
strange creature fairly flew down the bay, rush- 
ing through the tortuous channels and avoiding 
the hidden reefs as if by the help of magic. 

Accidents, it is said, occur very rarely in 
these waters, notwithstanding the fact that both 



132 BERMUDA. 

the yachts and the little open boats called 
" dingeys " carry an enormous amount of can- 
vas. Every Bermudian boy learns to manage 
a boat as he learns to walk or to whistle. It 
" comes by nature ; " and by the time he is fairly 
into trousers he is also into something that can 
float. The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and 
an Amateur Boating Club are very popular, 
and their periodic races make gala days for 
the whole island. The " event of the year " is 
the race for the Duke of Edinburgh's " cup." 
On one of these occasions a yacht of under five 
tons, and of only sixteen feet keel, carried a 
stretch of canvas measuring fift3^-eight and 
a half feet from side to side ; and a dingey of 
ten feet keel, when running before the wind, 
carried by actual measurement a spread of 
forty-two feet. 

I am too entirely a landswoman to know 
whether these figures are remarkable or not. 
But as the men seemed to think them so, I give 
them for what they are worth. 

On we flew for miles, winding in and out 
among the islands of the Great Sound. But 
neither the swift, inspiring motion nor the wine- 
like air drove the unwonted shadow from cer- 
tain faces. 

" Homesick, already ? " I said to one dole- 
ful individual. 



BERMUDA. 133 

" Yes, I am," he answered, bluntly. " That 's 
the worst of coming to Bermuda, — that one 
must go away again. Look at that water ! Did 
you ever see anything like it 1 Throw all the 
sapphires and rubies and emeralds and ame- 
thysts in the world into one vast crucible, and 
melt them up, and you might get something 
that would approach it — at a distance." 

" Yes, but you would need to add the yellow 
topaz and the flash of diamonds, also," I said. 

" And showers of pearls, like hoar-frost, and 
broken rainbows without number. One can't 
put it into words ! Why should we try 1 " 

" Yet through all the shifting play of color, 
how the pure blue predominates ! Blue above, 
and blue below. It is as if we were living in 
the heart of a sapphire." 

Does this seem like exaggeration 1 

But it is not. One learns to be chary in the 
use of adjectives, to beware of telling the whole 
truth, lest he should seem to color the word 
picture too warmly. Blue ! blue ! blue ! If the 
printer whose fate it is to put these sheets in 
type finds his font exhausted of <^'s, and /'s, 
and ?^'s, and <?'s, it is not my fault, but the fault 
of Bermudian seas and skies. 

" How did you people happen to come 
here ? " I asked that evening, addressing one 
member of a party who had traveled very 



134 BERMUDA. 

widely. " Was it because Bermuda happened 
to be the only spot on the habitable globe un- 
trodden by your adventurous feet ? " 

" Not exactly," he answered, laughing. " We 
have not been quite everywhere, yet. But one 
thing we are all agreed upon : nowhere have we 
found within the compass of nineteen square 
miles so much that was novel, beautiful, and 
interesting, with such air and such sunshine 
and such peace, as we have found just here." 



XVII. 

One can't get lost in Bermuda. Walk where 
you will, or drive, if you dare, — for Bermu- 
dians turn to the left, and Americans are apt 
to come to grief, — you will be sure to come out 
in sight of some well-known landmark. Never 
to be forgotten is one bright afternoon, when 
two of us drove all by ourselves to Knapton 
Hill and Spanish Rock. 

Tethering our horse to a convenient tree, 
we walked to the latter through a pleasant 
cedar grove on the hillside, intersected by 
winding paths that apparently had no object in 
life save to wander at their own sweet will. 
Birds were singing, wild flowers blooming at 
our feet ; we were shut in from all signt or 
sound of the sea, and again we were forcibly 
reminded of our northland, and the evergreen 
hills so far away. 

But presently we came out by a brackish 
sort of pond, that was very unlike our clear, 
cold, sparkling, mountain lakes. Its sandy 
shores were completely riddled with crab-holes. 
Beyond it were bold, ragged rocks and beetling 



136 BERMUDA. 

crags, over and round which we made our diffi- 
cult way, to be repaid by the wildest and grand- 
est sea-view in Bermuda, 

From the far horizon the great, strong waves 
came sweeping in impetuously, a mighty host, 
dashing madly against the resistless rocky bar- 
rier that barred their way, and in impotent 
rage and dying passion leaping wildly as to 
mid-heaven. 

Just so, with just such frantic fury, did they 
storm and shout when, centuries ago, a Spanish 
ship went down before them, and Ferdinand 
Camelo, escaping as by a miracle, carved his 
name and a rude cross, with the date 1543, 
upon this " Spanish Rock." 

Sacred, too, is the memory of another day, 
when, in the same delightfully independent 
fashion, we went to Spanish Point (wlTich, by 
the way, must not be confounded with Spanish 
Rock, one being on the North Shore and the 
other on the South), intending to spend an hour 
upon the shining beach. But when we got 
there it was flood tide, and the whole broad 
expanse was under water. 

So turning back, we stopped for a while to 
hold a laughing interview with the funniest 
little donkey in the world, a diminutive crea- 
ture tethered by the roadside, that tugged at 
its rope in a frantic effort to approach us, all 



BERMUDA. 1 37 

the while braying terrifically. How so small a 
beast could make so great a noise was past all 
comprehension. After vain attempts to con- 
sole him with comfits of fresh grass and lovely 
yellow thistles, we left him to his lonely lot, 
and, having reached a cross-road just in front 
of Admiralty House, crossed the island to the 
North Shore. 

The water was so marvelously clear that from 
cliffs forty feet above the sea we could count 
the shells and pebbles lying twenty feet be- 
neath it. 

As we drove slowly along, feeling it was joy 
enough just to be alive in that soft, enchanted 
air, and within sight of the far-stretching sea, 
that was as tranquil and placid that day as if 
it had never so much as dreamed of luring the 
sons of men to destruction, an unwonted com- 
motion on the rocks below us brought us to a 
standstill. What was going on } 

England was on the alert, as usual, and had 
discovered an unprotected point in her do- 
mains. Another cannon was to be planted on 
this coast instanter. But judging from the fuss 
that was made in unloading it, and from the 
delays and the unhandiness of the procedures, 
in spite of the frantic excitement of a fat man, 
who had doffed his red coat and was flying 
about in his shirt-sleeves, the feat seemed 



138 BERMUDA. 

likely to be accomplished in Bermudian rather 
than English fashion. 

" If we come this way again in the course of 
a year or two, that weapon of war will be in 
place," said Nemo. " But suppose we go on 
now." 

By and by we turned off into a road that was 
new to us, leading up a hill, and lined with 
oleanders, pink, white, and crimson, as large 
as good-sized apple-trees. We did not know 
where it led, nor did we care. But we came 
out at last near the old church in Devonshire, 
an ivy-covered ruin. Having been wrrned 
that the roof might fall, we did not go inside, 
but through the broken windows we saw the 
crumbling walls, from which the precious tab- 
lets had been removed, the dilapidated pews, 
and the high pulpit with antique hangings, 
faded and hoary. In one of the aisles was 
stowed away a ghastly hearse and a tottering 
bier, on which, no doubt, many generations of 
the dead who were [sleeping so soundly, hard 
by, had been borne to their last rest. I turned 
away with a shudder. 

But without, how sweet and^ still it was ! It 
was late afternoon. Not a sound reached us, 
not even the lapsing of the waves. Only now 
and then a lone bird twittered softly, or the 
winds sighed in the palm-trees. Great gray 



BERMUDA. 139 

tombs lay all around, like huge sarcophagi, and 
stretched far up the hill, weird and sombre in 
the light of dying day. Perhaps it was against 
the rules, — I don't know, — but with a great 
lump in my throat, and a tender thought of the 
little unknown sleeper, I picked a rose from a 
bush that was heaping a child's grave with its 
fragrant petals. If it was a sin, I here make 
full confession, and crave absolution from the 
baby's mother ! Rose geraniums grew wild in 
great profusion, making the air sweet with their 
strong perfume. It is called in Bermuda the 
''graveyard geranium," and I was told that 
pillows for coffined heads are filled with the 
fragrant leaves. An immense but dying cedar 
— the oldest on the islands — stands near the 
church, and was formerly used as a bell-cote. 
The trunk is hollow, and inside it two vigorous 
young trees are growing. 

More than one rainy morning we spent in the 
public library, established in 1839, poring over 
curious old books and quaint records ; but we 
were especially interested in the files of the 
" Royal Gazette " in bound volumes, running 
back precisely a hundred years. Turning over 
the yellow leaves one day, I came across, under 
the head of "Latest American News," a thrill- 
ing account of the difficulties between the New 
Yorkers and the Green Mountain boys, and of 



I40 BERMUDA. 

a conflict at Brattleboro, under Colonel Wait. 
The *' Royal Gazette " still lives, a quaint little 
sheet which looks like a fac-simile of an Amer- 
ican paper of the last century. You can buy it 
for a sixpence, and read it through, advertise- 
ments and all, in twenty minutes. 

There are no springs in Bermuda, and the 
great water-tanks are conspicuous objects every- 
where. Built of heavy stone, cool, dark, and 
entered solely by a door in the side which ad- 
mits the bucket, the water they contain is lim- 
pid and delicious. Every householder is com- 
pelled by law to have a tank, and to kvep it in 
good repair. 

Another thing that attracts attentijDn is the 
animals tethered here, there, and everywhere. 
You see donkeys, goats, cows, even cats, hens, 
and turkeys, — these last drooping sulkily, or 
swelling with outraged dignity, — confined by 
the inevitable tether. Noticing the strange 
manoeuvres of a hen in an inclosure near the 
road, I stopped to investigate, and discovered 
that she was tied by a cord two yards long to 
another hen. Their gyrations and flutterings 
were attempts to walk in opposite directions, 
— a pair of unaccommodating Siamese twins. 



XVIII. 

But time would fail to tell of all that filled 
our Bermudian days with a satisfying, restful 
delight : of trips on the Moondyne ; of moonlit 
walks to Hungry Bay, when the spray was hoar- 
frost and the waves were rippled silver ; of Sat- 
urday mornings at Prospect, to see the fine 
drill of the Royal Irish Rifles; of amateur 
theatricals given by the officers and their wives 
in the rickety old theatre ; of pleasant hours in 
Bermudian homes ; of kindly greetings and 
warm hand-clasps. Shall I ever forget a cer- 
tain " afternoon tea," where we were served in 
the shaded balcony by the five fair daughters 
of the house, while the happy and handsome 
mother smiled serenely, and took her ease with 
the rest of us ; or a morning in a quaint old 
place at Point Shear, where a lovely lady and 
the dearest of little boys opened their hearts 
as well as their home to their stranger guest, 
giving her some never-to-be-forgotten glimpses 
of the treasures in each ? Can I ever forget 
the little Abacado pear-tree, and the bath- 
house, like a fairy's grotto, and the shells and 



142 BERMUDA. 

corals lavished upon me with such sweet per- 
suasion, or lose the fragrance of the roses I 
bore away with me? They faded long ago, 
but their perfume lives on. And shall I ever 
cease to remember the mangroves, looking for 
all the world like tipsy bacchanalians, that in 
some way always reminded me of Saxe Holm's 
story of the " One-Legged Dancers " ? 

A few last words as to the climate. It is 
somewhat capricious, but is never really cold. 
Bermuda has no frosts. Yet during seven 
weeks, beginning in March and ending in May, 
we were in no need of thin summer clothing. 
The mercury in winter seldom falls below 60°. 
In the height of summer it is seldom above 85°, 
and there is always the breeze from the sea. 
When it blows from the southwest, Bermudi- 
ans stay within doors, and remain quiet till it 
changes. Tropical plants thrive, not because 
it is hotter than with us in summer, but because 
they are never winter-killed. 

Bermuda is not the place for consumptives. 
But for the overworked and weary, for those 
who need rest and recreation and quiet amuse- 
ment, for those who love the beauty of sea and 
sky better than noisy crowds and fashionable 
display, and can dispense with some accus- 
tomed conveniences for the sake of what they 
may gain in other ways, it is truly a paradise. 



BERMUDA. 143 

This paradise has one great advantage over 
other paradises, — an advantage it must retain 
for many years, if not forever. Its very inac- 
cessibility, being reached only, during the 
greater part of the year, by a semi-monthly 
steamer from New York, an occasional ship 
from Halifax, and a stray sailing-vessel now 
and then, puts it quite apart from the thorough- 
fare of travel. It can never be overrun by a 
noisy, promiscuous, tumultuous rabble. It must 
always have the subtile, indefinable charm of 
remoteness. 

The cost of first-cabin passage from New 
York to Bermuda, including a return ticket 
good for six months, is ^50 in gold. It is a 
three days' voyage. There being but one line 
of steamers, there is of course no competition 
and no choice. On every alternate Thursday 
during the winter months, the Quebec Steam- 
ship Company (A. E. Outerbridge & Co., 
agents, 51 Broadway) invite you to embark 
on their staunch little steamer, the Oronoco. 
You can do so, or you can stay at home. Dur- 
ing April, May, and June, when freight is 
heaviest, the Flamborough runs in connection 
with the Oronoco, thus making a weekly ser- 
vice and giving the interested tourist a chance 
to choose between the two. I venture to say 
that after having made one tour of inspection 
it will not take him long to decide. 



144 BERMUDA. 

The passage is proverbiall}'- disagreeable, 
but it is not dangerous, and it has the comfort 
of being short. You may be seasick ; indeed, 
you probably will be. But horribly as you may 
be rolled about and tossed about in crossing 
the Gulf Stream, you are in little danger of 
drowning. The great horror of mid-ocean 
travel, a collision, is hardly to be thought of, 
much less dreaded, in the lonely waters through 
which the gallant little vessels plough their 
sturdy way; and ere they reach the perilous 
reefs they are in the hands of trusty pilots, who 
know the tortuous channels incl' by inch. 

Connection is made at Bermuda with the 
Royal Mail steamers for Halifax and Jamaica, 
which leave monthly. 

The expense of living in the islands is of 
course dependent in a great degree upon indi- 
vidual tastes and habits. In ordinary cases it 
ranges from $2.00 to $3.50 a day for board and 
lodging. 

The two largest and best hotels in Hamil- 
ton are the Hamilton Hotel and the Ameri- 
can House ; but there are several smaller 
ones that are said to be comfortable. At St. 
George's the inns are the Globe and the 
Bermuda House. Speculators have not yet 
been induced to build large houses or cottages 
for the especial use of tourists but in Hamil- 



BERMUDA. 145 

ton, St. George's, Smith's, the Flatts, and 
Somerset private quarters can be had, and an 
occasional cottage, furnished or unfurnished. 
Messrs. Trott & Cox, the Bermuda agents of 
the Quebec Steamship Company, will furnish 
all necessary information on these points. 

I was told it was possible to obtain fair ac- 
commodations in the country for ^10 a week, 
but confess I encountered no one who had 
made the venture. 

The cost of excursions is comparatively tri- 
fling. You can get a good horse, carriage, and 
driver for the trip to St. George's and back — 
about twenty-four miles in all, and a good day's 
work — for twelve (English) shillings, or three 
dollars. Nemo's famous visit to Chubb's Cut, 
which is farther out than excursionists are apt 
to go, cost for the whole party of three the enor- 
mous sum of eighteen shillings. You can hire 
a whale-boat and three oarsmen for the day for 
one pound. You cross the ferry for a penny 
ha'penny. You pay a shilling or two for a trip 
on the Moondyne. And you can peep into all 
the caves you want to for a shilling apiece. 

There are no Stewarts or Hoveys in Ber- 
muda, yet by hook or by crook you can get 
hold of whatever is really necessary in the way 
of replenishing a dilapidated wardrobe, or sup- 
plying yourself with little comforts and con- 
10 



146 BERMUDA. 

veniences for the person or toilet. American 
goods, duty included, cost very little more than 
with us. 

English goods are, of course, cheaper. Dress- 
making, I was told, was well done, and at fab- 
ulously low prices. 



My story of Bermudian days is ended. It 
was our last evening. Trunks were packed, 
and on the morrow we would be off. 

" There is just time for one more row," said 
Nemo, looking at his watch, and then glancing 
at the dismantled room. " Put on your bonnet, 
Lady Mither, and let us go down to the dock 
and see if we can find Williams." 

We found him ; and as we glided over the 
beautiful bay for the last time to the soft dip of 
plashing oars, our hearts, if not our lips, sang 
this farewell song to Bermuda and her 



WHITE LADY OF THE PROW. 

The salt tides ebb, the salt tides flow, 
From the near isles the soft airs blow ; 
From leagues remote, with roar and din, 
Over the reefs the waves rush in ; 
The wild white breakers foam and fret. 
Day follows day, stars rise and set ; 



BERMUDA. lAj 

Yet, grandly poised, as calm and fair 
As some proud spirit of the air, 
Unmoved she lifts her radiant brow,— 
She, the White Lady of the Prow / 

The winds blow east, the winds blow west 
From woodlands low to the eagle's nest • ' 
The winds blow north, the winds blow south 
To steal the sweets from the lily's mouth ! 
We come and go ; we spread our sails 
Like sea-gulls to the favoring gales. 
Or, soft and slow, our oars we dip ' 
Under the lee of the stranded ship. 
Yet little recks she when or how, 
The grand White Lady of the Prow. 

We laugh, we love, we smile, we sigh, 

But never she heeds as we glide by, — 

Never she cares for our idle ways ' 

Nor turns from the brink of the world her gaze ! 

What does she see when her steadfast eyes 

Peer into the sunset mysteries. 

And all the secrets of time and space 

Seem unfolded before her face ? 

What does she hear when, pale and calm. 

She lists for the great sea's evening psalm.? 

Speak, lady, speak ! Thy sealM lip, 
Thou fair white spirit of the ship, 
Could tell such tales of high emprise, 
Of valorous deeds and counsels wise ' 
What prince shall rouse thee from thy trance 
And meet thy first revealing glance, 
Or what Pygmalion from her sleep' 
Bid Galatea wake and v/eep .? 



148 BERMUDA. 

The wave's wild passion stirs thee not, — 
Oh, is thy life's long love forgot ? 

How canst thou bear this tranced calm 
By sunlit isles of bloom and balm, — 
Thou who hast sailed the utmost seas, 
Empress alike of wave and breeze ; 
Thou who hast swept from pole to pole 
Where the great surges swell and roll, 
Breasted the billows white with wrath. 
Rode in the tempest's fiery path, 
And proudly borne to waiting hands 
The glorious spoil of farthest lands ? 

How canst thou bear this silence, deep 
And tranquil as an infant's sleep, — 
Thou who hast heard above thy head 
The white sails sing with wings outspread ; 
Thou whose strong soul has thrilled to feel 
The swift rush of the ploughing keel. 
The dash of waves, and the wild uproar 
Of ocean lashed from shore to shore ? 
How canst thou bear this changeless rest, 
Thou who hast made the world thy quest ? 

O Lady of the stranded ship, 

Once more our lingering oars we dip 

In the clear blue that round thee lies, 

Fanned by the airs of Paradise ! 

Farewell ! farewell ! But oft when day 

On our far hill-tops dies away, 

And night's cool winds the pine-trees bow. 

Our eyes will see thee, even as now, 

Waiting — a spirit pale and calm — 

To hear the great sea's evening psalm ! 



MILLS BREAKER 



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The Princess Hotel, 



BERMUDA HOTEL COMPAiNY, 

LIMITED. 



THE PRINCESS HOTEL is situated on a bold and rising ele- 
vation at the southern and western extremity of the picturesque 
harbor of Hamilton ; its southern or sunny frontage is built almost 
on the water's edge, but the highness of the rocks, which are the 
solid foundation of the main structure, preclude the possibility of 
any inconvenience being experienced from tempestuous w^eather. 
The building for guests, irrespective of outhouses, stands on an 
area of 15,000 square feet, and its southern face is some 140 feet 
long. The facilities this hotel offers for the thorough enjoyment 
of the salt water is one of its greatest charms and attractions. 
There is a covered stone piazza, 12 to 14 feet wide, running the 
entire length of the building, warmed the whole day by the 
health-giving sun, affording a sunny promenade for the invalid, a 
seductive resort of the lounger, the smoker, the tired yachtman, 
and the valetudinarian. The reception room is a magnificent 
apartment, forty by twenty feet, with large low windows and 
glass doors opening on the southern and western verandas ; the 
views from here are superb. In keeping, and in size with this 
commodious apartment, is the spacious dining-hall, sixty by forty 
feet. There are upwards of eighty bedrooms, ranging in^size 
from twenty-three; by sixteen feet to twelve by sixteen feet. The 
edifice will be gas-lighted throughout. 

For information, terms and rooms, apply to 

A. A. JONES, Manager, Bermuda, 

V) —OR TO — 

A, E, OUTERBRIDGE & CO., 51 B'WAY, N. Y. 



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